A Delicate Balance

There’s a delicate balance in Christianity between believing and doing.  Many Christians lean one way or the other.  Some are wrapped up in believing the right things, always making sure their theological i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed.  This kind of Christian has lots of Bible knowledge and is always making sure everyone else is believing the right things.

Other Christians are wrapped up in doing, always looking for ways to serve, minimizing right beliefs at the expense of action.  They’re always signing up for everything going on at church and are quick to talk about how busy they are serving others.

But true Christianity is a delicate balance of believing and doing.  The Bible says that both are important and that both exist in people who truly know God.  Someone who truly knows God will want to grow in knowing him and will want to serve him.

Another way to say this is to say that God’s word has to be practiced.  Of course, it must be heard and known and believed first, because you can’t practice something you don’t know.  But once you know it, you must practice it.  Christianity goes so far as to say that if you don’t practice God’s word, you don’t actually know it.

Some are deceived into thinking they’re good with God by just believing certain things.  Others are deceived into thinking they’re good with God by just doing certain things.  But both are wrong.  True knowledge of God produces a life of knowing and doing.

Hearing and Doing

Jesus emphasizes doing the will of God as a necessary result of knowing God (Lk. 6:46-49, 8:19-21; cf. Js. 1:22).  True hearing of God’s word is authenticated by doing.  Many hear the word with their ears, but those truly listening are the ones who start living it out.

This is Jesus’ point again in our text today, Luke 10:25-37.  This is often called the parable of the Good Samaritan, but the focus is on practicing, or doing, the word of God.  The verb “to do” is repeated in verses 25, 28, and twice in verse 37.

The main point of this text, therefore, is that belief without action is nothing, that knowledge without service is empty, or as James says, faith without works is dead (Js. 2:17, 26).

In this text, we’ll consider three questions.  The first two questions are from a lawyer to Jesus, the third question is from me to you.  The first question is, “What must I do to live forever?” (vv. 25-28).  The second question is, “Who is my neighbor?” (vv. 29-37).  And the third question is for us, “What must we do?”

What Must I Do to Inherit Eternal Life?

The first question we’ll consider is in verses 25-28.  This lawyer was a professional expert in the Jewish law.  He’s there to monitor Jesus’ teaching, so he stands up and challenges Jesus, “putting him to the test” (v. 25).  He publicly confronts Jesus because he wants to expose his naivete so people can see him for the amateur teacher that he is, while he of course is the real professional in matters of the law.

The lawyer asks him a fundamental question about the law: “What does a person have to do to go to heaven?”  He’s probing Jesus’ understanding of theology.  But Jesus has some probing of his own to do.  As he often does, he responds to a question with a question of his own (v. 26).  Jesus says, “You, the lawyer, are asking me what you have to do to inherit eternal life?  You know what the law says.”

So the lawyer answers by summarizing the great commandment from Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19 (v. 27).  And Jesus says, “You are right.  If you do this, you will live” (v. 28).

The Law is a Mirror

But Jesus knows this lawyer, or anyone else, hasn’t kept the law perfectly.  He hadn’t even loved the Lord with his whole heart since he got out of bed that morning!  Jesus tells him to “do” this law and he’ll live, but he knows he hasn’t done this law.  So why does he say this?

One of the purposes of the law is to show us that we can’t keep the law.  The law is a mirror that helps us see ourselves.  It shows us how we measure up to God’s standards.  And it’s not often a fun mirror to look at.

We typically measure ourselves against others, and interestingly we always come out on top.  But when we compare ourselves to the law of God, when we look into the mirror of his holy law, we discover who we are.  The law reveals our sin and shows how hopeless we are to justify ourselves.

This lawyer, an expert debater, walked into a trap with the Teacher of Teachers.  He made the worst mistake he could’ve made.  He thought by reciting the Great Commandment and implying that he’d obeyed it that he could justify himself.

Before we’re too hard on him, many of us think the same thing.  We say to God that we’ve lived a good life.  But compared to what?  Compared to the law of God?  Not possible.

If anyone should’ve known better, it was this lawyer.  But as I said earlier, it’s one thing to know the law but quite another thing to internalize it and perform it.

“Who is My Neighbor?”

This leads him to ask Jesus a second question in verse 29.  He’s still trying to test Jesus, trying to trip Jesus up by asking who exactly he was supposed to love.  He’s asking Jesus, “How far is my love supposed to reach?”

Jesus could’ve just said, “You’re supposed to love everyone.  Every person you come in contact with is your neighbor and you should love them as much as you love yourself.”  And that would’ve been the end of the debate.  But instead, Jesus says, “Let me tell you a story.”

A Deadly Road

In verses 30-37, Jesus proceeds to tell a story about a man who went down the dangerous road from Jerusalem to Jericho.  It was a road sometimes called “the bloody way,” descending some 4,000 feet from Jerusalem to Jericho, passing through mountainous terrain and a baren wilderness.  It was like walking through a dark alley in the bad part of town.  You could never be certain you’d be okay.  And sure enough, this man fell victim to robbers who took his clothes, beat him, and left him half-dead.

But then a man appears!  He’s coming down the road and he sees the half-dead man and he’s a priest so surely he’ll help!  But “he passed by on the other side” (v. 31).  Some speculate that he passed by because he didn’t want to become unclean by touching someone he thought may be dead.  Or that maybe he thought the robbers were still nearby and he didn’t want to meet the same fate as this guy.  Whatever the reason, he saw a man in need and just kept walking.

But then another man appears!  This time a Levite is coming down the road and sees him.  Maybe he’ll help!  But he too “passed by on the other side” (v. 32).  All priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests.  The Levites who weren’t priests, took care of the buildings and liturgies in and around the temple.  So both the priest and the Levite were professional ministers.  And both left the man to die on the side of the road.

The irony is that the officers of God’s people, those charged with helping the needy, had no desire to get involved with the needs of this stranger.  This was a clear violation of Leviticus 19:34, “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself.”  Their schedule didn’t have room for obedience to God’s law.

The Compassionate Samaritan

“But,” Jesus says in verse 33, the story isn’t over.  Another man is coming down the road and of all people it’s a Samaritan!  The Samaritans were the sworn enemies of the Jews.  We call him the “Good Samaritan,” but to the Jews there was no such thing.  The Jews had no dealings with Samaritans (Jn. 4:9) and Jesus’ enemies once called him a “Samaritan” to make fun of him (Jn. 8:48).  But Jesus says it’s a Samaritan who becomes a hero for this man.

He was a hero because, unlike the priest and Levite, he didn’t just see the man, he saw him and felt compassion for him and did something about it (vv. 33b-35).

We’ve cheapened the idea of compassion today to the idea of just feeling bad for someone.  We might say, “I feel your pain,” but just keep walking down the street.  True compassion goes beyond feelings.  If you have real compassion, you don’t just feel it, you show it.  Psalm 103:13, “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.”  A father doesn’t see his child in need and scurry off to his next appointment.

And neither does this Samaritan.  He allows his schedule to be interrupted, his comfort challenged, risks his safety, and gets dirty and bloody by personally caring for a needy person of another race and class.

Look at the comprehensiveness of his compassion in verses 34-35: he approached him, bandaged his wounds, provided emergency medical treatment, transportation, advocacy, a hefty financial subsidy, and a follow-up visit.  He gives him shelter, finances, medical care, and friendship, all while the people who should’ve helped did nothing.

Character Revealed through Actions

The priest and Levite were professional ministers by birth: you’re born a Levite, you don’t become one.  So they were evaluated based on their ancestry not their actions.  Many would’ve seen their failure to help this man as right simply because they were Levites.

But the Samaritan had no standing in Israel.  He didn’t minister in the temple.  He was probably a traveling merchant.  But what makes him different isn’t his race or status but his compassion and his action.  He acted while they failed to act.  Indeed, “his actions condemn their failure to act.”[1]  The people who knew the law didn’t perform the law, while the one who many assumed didn’t know the law kept it.  And in so doing, the Samaritan demonstrated God’s character (Lk. 1:78, 7:13, 15:20).

Jesus tells this story to teach the lawyer, and us, that people’s status with God is revealed through their actions.  God’s people act like God.

Jesus ends his story by asking the lawyer the easiest question ever asked (v. 36).  He responds to the lawyer’s question with another question of his own.  But he shifts the focus of the question.  Instead of asking, “Who is my neighbor?” (the lawyer’s question), Jesus asks, “Who acted like a neighbor?”  Why the shift?

Because the lawyer’s question focused on whether the wounded man possessed neighborly status.  But Jesus’ question makes it clear that the man’s status is a non-issue.  Jesus thus nullifies the worldview that gives rise to such questions as, “Who is my neighbor?”  His point to the lawyer is, “Anyone in need is your neighbor.”  The lawyer answers correctly in verse 37 and Jesus tells him to “go and do likewise.”

This story is a reverse trap.  The lawyer tried to trap Jesus in saying something derogatory about the law, but Jesus says that it’s the Jewish leaders who don’t really keep the law.  He attacks the complacency of comfortable religious people who protect themselves from the needs of others.  And he says in no uncertain terms that those who know God are those who care for the needy.

This parable is an indictment against those who want to justify themselves, who want to put God in their debt.  Against those (like the priest and Levite) who assume that their status exempts them from obedience.  Jesus says that knowing the rules without living them out means you don’t know God.  He says that faith without works is dead.

What Must We Do?

The third and final question for us to consider is for us: “What must we do?”  According to Jesus, we must do mercy ministry (v. 37).  Serving the needy is a necessary part of being a Christian.  Remember, this parable is an answer to the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Paul later says that Jesus gave himself to redeem a people who are “zealous for good works” (Tit. 2:14), and that he was eager to remember the poor (Gal. 2:10).  Those who know God will want to help hurting people.

You won’t find a person more committed to preaching the gospel than Charles Spurgeon.  But did you know that he was also an adamant defender of mercy ministry?  Spurgeon oversaw a multitude of mercy ministries and regularly spoke about the importance of caring for people’s physical needs.

In an article in 1872, Spurgeon says that good works are a necessary part of a Christian’s life.  He mentions an incident in Italy where the coastguard used their “speaking-trumpet” (an instrument designed to make the voice carry at sea) during their search for people after a shipwreck but took no further action to help those who were drowning.  He used this incident as an illustration of Christians who talk about helping people but who never actually get around to helping them.  He said:

“What are words without deeds?  You plead for the destitute, but where is your guinea?  You are eloquent for fallen women, but what are you doing towards their rescue?  You demand an educated ministry, what institution are you aiding?  You pity the widow and the fatherless, to what orphanage do you contribute?  Silence is most becoming in those whose speech is not illustrated by suitable action.”[2]

Spurgeon says that if works don’t “illustrate” one’s words, then one’s words will not be heard.  He believed that the word of the gospel must be adorned with deeds of mercy.

The basic principle here is that actions often speak louder than words.  What we do reveals what we believe, so when we care for the needy, our faith becomes visible.

There are many ways for you to serve the needy here at PHBC.  Start by praying for wisdom, talk with me if you want ideas, sign up and show up for things going on, get to know people around you so you can know how to serve them.

Eternity Will Reveal the Fruit of Our Work

Mercy ministry is hard work.  We may not see many “results” here and now, but that doesn’t mean the Lord isn’t working.  There was a Christian song from my childhood called “Thank You” that captured this well:

I dreamed I went to heaven

And you were there with me

I am a life that was changed

Then another man stood before you

A missionary came to your church

Thank you for giving to the Lord

Thank you for giving to the Lord

I am so glad you gave

One by one they came

In heaven now proclaimed

For great is your reward

Thank you for giving to the Lord

When we serve those in need, we have no idea what the Lord will do with our work.  But we must do it, not to get something out of it, but because it’s the right thing to do, because it’s who we are.

We do it because the Minster of Mercy, the Lord Jesus Christ, saw us beaten and half dead on the road and stopped and helped us.  We serve the needy because the Lord served us.

Christians are people of mercy because they’ve been mercied.  Those who know the Minister of Mercy become ministers of mercy.

Jesus gave his life to give you mercy so you could spend your life giving mercy to others.  Christian, you have been mercied so you must “go and do likewise.”

[1]Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 431.

[2]C. H. Spurgeon, “Talk Without Work,” The Sword and the Trowel (May 1872): 210.

An Executed Criminal is Cursed

The ancient Jews believed that people who were killed for their crimes were cursed by God.  They had good biblical precedent for that belief as there are many examples in the Law of Moses about executing those who commit various crimes.  If you received the death penalty, the Jews believed, you were under God’s curse.

This is one of the things the early Jewish opponents used against the early Christians.  They would say, “How could you say that Jesus is the Messiah or in any way blessed by God if he was crucified?  Don’t you know that people executed for their crimes are cursed by God?”

Paul and the other apostles had to answer this objection, and the way they did was by agreeing with their opponents.  “Jesus,” they said, “was indeed cursed by God, just not for the reasons you think he was.”

So why did the apostles teach that Jesus was cursed by God?  Let’s get our bearings by looking at a couple verses in Deuteronomy 21.  Then we’ll look at what Paul does with these verses in Galatians 3.  And then we’ll close by discussing why Jesus being cursed by God is good news for us.

“A Hanged Man is Cursed by God”

Deuteronomy 21:22-23 is a brief regulation about what to do with the body of an executed felon.  There were several crimes in ancient Israel that called for the death penalty, things like adultery and sorcery, and even being a rebellious kid (21:18-21).

This seems severe to our modern ears, but the point was that Israel as a nation was supposed to reflect the holiness of God to other unholy nations.  So evil had to be “purged” from the midst of the nation.  If a holy nation was living in unholy ways, then what would that say about their God?

So the death penalty was enacted for various crimes.  But sometimes the one executed would then be hung up on a tree after they died.  The sequence in verse 22 implies that the criminal is executed and then they’re hung up on the tree.  The hanging part wasn’t commanded, but it was a common practice in the ancient near east.

Why would Israel do this?  So that the one executed would be an example of what happens to those who commit capital crimes.  The dead body was displayed as a warning, “forcefully warning the Israelites concerning the results of breaking covenant laws that were punishable by death.”[1]

The law doesn’t sanction hanging the corpses up on a tree, but it does impose certain restrictions on the practice.  The limitations imposed were that the body had to be removed before nighttime and that it had to be buried (v. 23a).  The reason for these limitations is to avoid “defiling” or “polluting” the land, to avoid the symbolic desecration of the holy land, a land that belonged to the Lord.  This is why John points out that the Jews wanted to take Jesus’ body down from the cross before the Sabbath began (Jn. 19:31).

The middle of verse 23 is important for our purposes, “for a hanged man is cursed by God.”  What does it mean that this person was under God’s curse?  Was he cursed because he was hung on a tree or hung on a tree because he was cursed?  I think it’s the latter.  The person was killed because of an egregious sin against the Lord, thus putting them under the Lord’s curse.  The hanging part was optional, so that couldn’t be what cursed them, but nonetheless, they were considered cursed.

The Curse of the Law

Now that we understand the context of this obscure Old Testament law, let’s see what Paul does with it in Galatians 3:13.  Paul says that Jesus redeems us from the law’s curse because he “became a curse for us,” and then he quotes Deuteronomy 21:23, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.”

The first step in Paul’s argument is that anyone who doesn’t keep the whole law is “under a curse” (v. 10).  This is why it’s impossible to be justified by the law (v. 11).  And why salvation must be by faith (v. 12).  Paul is saying, “If you can keep the whole law, great, you’ll live!  But the problem is you can’t keep the law, so you’re under its curse.  Works don’t work!”

“Curse” here doesn’t mean a spooky spell put on someone that brings bad luck.  It means God’s judgment.  Paul says that the law’s curse, or God’s judgment, looms over those who haven’t kept the whole law.  Have you kept the whole law?

We might keep some of the law some of the time but no one keeps all the law all the time.  But that’s actually not the main problem.  The main problem is relying on yourself rather than relying on God (vv. 11-12).  It’s not just that we break some laws, but that our whole life’s orientation is toward ourselves, not toward God.

Some people rebel against God by breaking his law, some by keeping it.  But keeping the law out of self-reliance is rejecting God’s help.  Martin Luther saw this clearly, saying:

“Outwardly you keep the law with works out of fear of punishment or love of gain…You’d rather act otherwise if the law didn’t exist.  It follows then, that you, in the depths of your heart, are an enemy of the law…Because in doing such works the heart abhors the law and yet is forced to obey it.[2]

He’s saying we keep the law but would rather not because we don’t love it.  But to avoid punishment and to look good, we keep it.  Our hearts “abhor” the law and yet keep it anyway.

Do you see how desperate our situation is?  Why there’s a curse on those who don’t keep the law from their hearts?

Redemption from the Curse

But Paul says there’s rescue from the curse (v. 13).  He says that Jesus pays the price that the law demands, that he became a curse for us so that the curse is no longer on us.

The accusation from Paul’s Jewish opponents that Jesus was cursed because he was “hung on a tree” is correct.  He was cursed by God.  But not because he was a criminal.  Jesus never sinned, so his execution was totally unjust.  But like a criminal, he was hung on a tree to be a display of God’s justice, to reveal how seriously God takes sin.  But he wasn’t hanging there for his sin, but for ours.

In his death, Jesus receives the curse God’s people deserve because they’ve broken God’s law in order to release them from the law’s curse.

The result of this is in verse 14.  Jesus becoming a curse means that the blessing of Abraham can be enjoyed by Gentiles too.  All people can be part of God’s people.  And it means that the promised Holy Spirit is given to those who believe.  The curse is removed and life is given.

Good News For Us

Why is this good news for us?  It’s good news because it means that Jesus’ death solves our greatest problem.  If you’ve broken God’s law, you’re under his curse.  And we’ve all broken his law and deserve his judgment.  “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).

Our sin is a much bigger deal than we realize.  Sin is why the world is on fire.  Sin destroys families, hurts our bodies, relationships, churches, finances, friendships, work, community, nation, politics, and economy.  Sin has literally corrupted every good thing God made.

But sin isn’t some nebulous force in the world.  It’s in you.  You’ve broken God’s law, done what you should not have done and not done what you should have done.  And because God is holy and just and good, he must punish sin.  Lawbreakers are under God’s curse.

The Bible says that it’s our sin that curses us, not our circumstances, and that Jesus died to save us from the one, not the other.  And that only those who understand this and put their faith in Jesus are truly blessed.  Verse 9, “Those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham.”

Only by trusting in Christ will you be given the ability to want to keep God’s law.  Luther again:

“That is why faith alone makes someone just and fulfills the law; (it is) faith that brings the Holy Spirit through the merits of Christ.  The Spirit, in turn, renders the heart glad and free, as the law demands.  The good works proceed from faith itself.”[3]

Christ died to rescue us from God’s curse.  Faith in this promise is the only thing that can set your heart free.

[1]Ardel Caneday, “‘Redeemed from the Curse of the Law’: The Use of Deut 21:22-23 in Gal 3:13,” Trinity Journal, no. 10 (1989): 199.

[2]Quoted in Tim Chester, Reforming Joy: A Conversation Between Paul, the Reformers, and the Church Today (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 52.

[3]Ibid.

The Gift of a Father

This week I finished a book Suzy gave me for Christmas titled Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, A Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism by Leland Vittert.  The book is about Leland’s relationship with his dad, and how his dad helped him navigate the challenges of autism.

Leland was bullied relentlessly at his school, by kids and teachers, and he talks about how his dad would meet him at the end of their driveway every day at 4:00 to help him process everything and put the pieces back together.

When he was five years old, his dad lifted him onto a tree branch and told him to jump into his arms.  Leland was terrified but he jumped and his dad caught him and said to him, “I’ll always catch you…You can trust me to always be there for you.”  Leland says, “When he put me on that tree, he wanted me to know the world wasn’t something to fear, at least not with him there.  It was Dad’s way of telling me, ‘I can help you.  Trust me, and we’ll figure things out together.’”[1]

When Leland was in his thirties and was about to go on a date with a woman he was interested in, his dad called and said he was in town.  Leland told him he had a date that night and his dad said, “I’ll come along!”  Leland writes, “To Dad, this seemed like perfectly normal behavior.  I was, and always will be, his little boy.  More importantly, why wouldn’t I want him to come along?”[2]  So he went and, though his eventual wife Rachel was panicked, all went well.

With his dad’s help, Leland overcame so many challenges and is now a successful TV news anchor.  The book is about all he learned and all he became because of his dad.  The book is about the gift of a father.

Leland’s dad was a gift to him, a gift he didn’t choose, earn, or deserve, a gift his father wanted to give, even sacrificing his career for him.  The gift of a father changed everything for Leland.

A Gift of Grace

In our text this morning, we’re going to learn that this is how God is too.  God the Father loves to give himself to his children!  And the way he does so is by giving them his own Son.  The Father sent the Son so that the Son could bring us to the Father.  And all this is a gift of grace.  Knowing the care and protection and dedication and love of the Father through the Son isn’t earned or deserved.  It’s a gift freely given and received.

Last week we saw that grace is more important than accomplishment (10:20).  Now, in Luke 10:21-24, Jesus highlights grace again.  Jesus says that he came to reveal God the Father and that those who receive the revelation do so because of grace.

The main point of this text is that knowing God is a gift of grace.  You can’t earn or work for or deserve God.  You can only be given him and receive him as a gift of grace.  In our text, we’ll see who the gift is for (v. 21), what the gift is (v. 22), and when the gift comes (vv. 23-24).

Who the Gift is For

In verse 21, we see who the gift is for.  I said that knowing God is a gift of grace, so who’s the gift for?  Jesus says it’s for “little children.”  He says that the Father reveals the saving realities of his grace in Christ to “infants.”

Jesus is drawing a contrast between “the wise and understanding” and “little children.”  He’s not disparaging intelligence, but he is saying that participating in his kingdom doesn’t depend on intellectual resources.  One writer says, “Jesus laid the ax to snob appeal.”[3]

Contrary to expectation, God’s revelation is awarded to “infants” because they profoundly understand their neediness and are open to instruction and grateful for God’s kindness.  They stand in contrast to the “wise and understanding,” not because they’re not intelligent, but because they’re humble.

So far in Luke’s Gospel, the “infants” are Mary the mother of Jesus, the shepherds, the poor, the handicapped, the demon-possessed, the tax collectors and sinners, the fishermen.  The “wise and understanding” are the Pharisees and scribes who know the Bible but fail to perceive God’s revelation in Jesus.

God withholds his revelation from them, not because they’re lacking in intelligence, but because their hearts are proud.  Isn’t this what Peter later says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Pet. 5:5)?

It’s commonly understood that salvation comes to the strong, the wise, the intelligent, the ones who have their lives together.  We think that power and wealth indicate God’s blessing.  But Jesus says that God reaches down to those who have nothing to offer but their need, giving them every spiritual blessing and making them truly rich and strong.  Jesus says here that God prefers the weak over the strong.

Help from the Hands of the Weak

This kind of plot twist is in all the best stories.  Toward the end of Tolkien’s Of the Rings of Power, Elrond and Mithrandir (aka Gandalf) wonder if the “One” great ring will ever be found again.  Elrond says, “I forebode that the One will yet be found, and then war will rise again, and in that war this Age will be ended.  Indeed in a second darkness it will end, unless some strange chance deliver us that my eyes cannot see.”  Then Mithrandir says, “Many are the strange chances of the world, and help oft shall come from the hands of the weak when the Wise falter.”[4]

And of course, that’s exactly what happens.  Frodo and Sam, the smallest and most unlikely candidates, take the One ring to Mount Doom and destroy it once and for all.

There’s something about the weak and unexpected ones defeating the strong that hits a chord with us and draws us in.  Sight of the inbreaking of the mighty kingdom of God in Christ is given to those you’d least expect.  Have you seen it?

What the Gift Is

The gift of God’s grace is for “little children.”  But, secondly, what exactly is this gift of grace?  Verse 22 says that the gift of grace that’s revealed to “little children” is knowing the Father.

Jesus, the Son of God, came to make the Father known, to “reveal him.”  This means so many things for us!  It means that at the heart of what Jesus is doing is more than dying for our sins or bringing the kingdom.  At the heart, Jesus came to show us his Father.

Why is this such good news?  Because this is what we were made for and what our hearts are hungry for.  We long to know God as more than Judge or Creator or King.  Rather, we want to rest in the arms of our Father.

And this is what Jesus came to give us.  Jesus came to bring us to the Father.

More than Creator and Judge

Let’s probe a bit deeper into why this is such good news.  If God were merely Creator or Judge, we’d rightly stand in awe of him and cower before him.  But if he’s a fatherly Creator and Judge, then doesn’t that change the way we think about him?  It would mean that he’s powerful and tender, that he’s just and merciful, that he’s Lord and love.

Theologian Michael Reeves says in his little book Delighting in the Trinity, “The most foundational thing in God is not some abstract quality, but the fact that he is Father.”[5]  This means that God doesn’t just do fatherly things but is Father.  Reeves again, “It is not that this God ‘does’ being Father as a day job, only to kick back in the evenings as plain old ‘God.’  It is not that he has a nice blob of fatherly icing on top.  He is Father.  All the way down…all his ways are beautifully fatherly.”[6]

Eternally Father and Love and Life

What does it mean that God is Father?  It means that he begets children, is love, and is life-giving.  This is the textbook definition of “father”: giving life and love and begetting children.

Being Father means begetting the Son eternally.  The Son has always existed because God is a Father.  What’s amazing is that God has always been Father.  He’s eternally a Father because he’s eternally had a Son.  The Son has his eternal being from the Father.

Because he’s eternally Father, he’s eternally had a Son, and therefore he’s always been love.  God is love because he’s Father.  He wouldn’t be love if there was nobody to love.  But because the Son has always existed, he has loved the Son eternally.  As Jesus prays, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (Jn. 17:24).

Because he’s eternally Father, he’s eternally had a Son, and therefore he’s always been life-giving.  The Father is like a fountain that must pour forth life.  A fountain is not deficient if it overflows.  The Father begets the Son eternally, but he creates the cosmos as an overflow of his love and care and wisdom and glory.  He’s “Lord of heaven and earth.”

The Father that the Son came to reveal is a begetting and loving and life-giving God.  The God Jesus came to reveal isn’t the cold and grumpy and mildly displeased and disdaining God who we often envision.  He’s the perfect Father.  His love isn’t won through performance so you can stop trying to prove yourself to him.  His life isn’t cold or uncaring so you can let your guard down.  He doesn’t look upon his children with arms crossed and brow furrowed.  He’s not distracted but is fully present with you.  You can’t impress him, you can only be loved by him.  He’s Father, “all the way down.”  This is who Jesus the Son came to show us.

Bad Dads

This contrasts with how many of us think of “fathers.”  The “fatherhood” of God isn’t an instinctively warm idea for many who had overbearing or indifferent or abusive fathers.  In fact, many are turned away from God’s fatherly care because of how their fathers treated them.

Michael Foucault was a twentieth-century French philosopher who wrote about the evils of authority, a notion he likely picked up from the first authority figure in his life: his father.  His father was a surgeon who made him watch amputations when he was a little boy to toughen him up.  Foucault’s dad didn’t use his paternal power to care or nurture, so the word “father” came to be associated with “a host of dark images.”

Michael Reeves draws an important lesson from Foucault’s experience for us.  He says:

“One’s heart goes out to the children of such fathers, and those of us who are fathers ourselves know that we too are far from perfect.  But God the Father is not called Father because he copies earthly fathers.  He is not some pumped-up version of your dad.  To transfer the failings of earthly fathers to him is, quite simply, a misstep.  Instead, things are the other way around: it is that all human fathers are supposed to reflect him – only where some do that well, others do a better job of reflecting the devil.”[7]

Jesus, the Son, came to show us the perfect Father our hearts long to know.

“The Ayes Have It”

The gift of grace that Jesus came to give to all the “little children” who understand their need for it is the gift of knowing the Father.

I keep saying it’s a gift of grace because Jesus talks about the Father’s “gracious will” in verse 21, and because of what Jesus says at the end of verse 22.  He says that the only people who get to know the Father are the ones he “chooses” or “desires” to reveal him to.

We may not mind Jesus having some authority, but there’s a rebel streak in us that doesn’t want him to have too much.  There’s a story about Abraham Lincoln dealing with a dispute in a cabinet meeting.  At the end of the dispute, in which he’d been outvoted, he said, “Seven nays, one aye; the ayes have it.”  As President, Lincoln could do math like that because he had the authority.  And so does Jesus.  Our knowing the Father rests on his decision.  That may ruffle your feathers, but “infants” just bow and worship because they understand grace.[8]

When the Gift Comes

Third, and finally, we see when this gift of grace comes in verses 23-24.  The disciples were blessed because of what they were privileged to see.  Jesus has already been talking about the gift of grace coming through sight, or revelation (vv. 21-22).  Now he tells his followers that they are indeed seeing things that the giants of the past longed to see.

The gift of grace came to them when they saw, and so it is with us.  When God gives us eyes to see, we’re also blessed.  And the blessing comes by seeing two things: our need and Jesus’ sufficiency.

We will not see the Father until we see our need for the Son.  Our need is desperate because our sin is so great and insurmountable.  We’ve broken God’s commands and loved everything but God with all our hearts.  And we actually think that we’re good without God!  We have to see our sin, our need for the cross, our need for grace, or we’ll never see Father.

And we have to see the sufficiency of Jesus.  He and he alone lived the life that perfectly pleased God, died for our sins, and rose to offer us new life.  He and he alone can forgive our sins and show us the Father.  His work, not ours, is what secures grace for us.

When you see your need and Jesus’ sufficiency, truly see them with the eyes of your heart, you can be confident that the Lord’s salvation has come to you, that you know the Father and the Father knows you.

“Come to Me and I Will Give You Rest”

Many of us have wounds from our fathers that create so much unresolved angst and anxiety and anger in our hearts.  We often keep these injuries out of sight and out of mind because the pain and loss is too much to bear.  But the effects of the wound are still there.  As Mr. Miyagi says in The Karate Kid, “Grief trapped in the heart become big anger.”  Injustice creates grief and grief often creates anger, not so much because we were hurt, but mostly because we were hurt and no one seemed to notice or care.  This residual and pent-up pain is often what drives many of our pathologies, or abnormalities and addictions and anger and insecurities.

But if we’d allow ourselves to walk into that storm, we’d find that the Lord is already there waiting for us, wanting to take our burden and give us rest, wanting to show us the Father.

In Matthew’s account, he follows up Jesus’ statement with an amazing invitation (Mt. 11:27-30).

Into the storm of our lives, Jesus calls, “Come to me!”  And when we hear his voice and go to him, we find that he’s not like the God we may’ve expected.  His call is like cool water on a hot day, like finding the relief of shade from the scorching sun.

And our hearts long for what he offers: grace to cover our guilt and to finally be held by the Father.  We find that his heart is “gentle and lowly.”  We find rest and relief.  And we find this because, in Jesus, we find the life-giving Father who is love.

Leland Vittert’s life was changed by the gift of his father.  Jesus came to give us the gift of the Father.  And for those who receive this gift of grace, everything changes.

[1]Leland Vittert, with Don Yaeger, Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, A Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism (Nashville: Harper Horizon, 2025), 46.

[2]Ibid., 227.

[3]Frederick W. Danker, Jesus and the New Age: A Commentary on St. Luke’s Gospel, rev. ed. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988), 219.

[4]J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, ed. Christopher Tolkien (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2004), 311.

[5]Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 23.

[6]Ibid.

[7]Ibid., 25.

[8]Dale Ralph Davis, Luke 1-13: The Year of the Lord’s Favor, Focus on the Bible (Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus, 2021), 180.

The Blessing of a Funeral

Last week I was honored to be one of the preachers at George Tolan’s funeral.  George was Ioana’s father and Suzy’s grandfather.  As I said at the funeral, he was a truly great man because he, like his Savior, laid down his life for the good of others.

George brought so much blessing to our family.  He was married to the same woman for almost sixty-five years, raised three daughters in communist Romania by working as a truck-driver, moved his family from the north of Romania to a city on the coast of the Black Sea – Constanta, in order to make life better for his family, a decision that would literally impact generations, as it allowed their oldest daughter, Ioana, to eventually meet a boy in her neighborhood, Dumitru.

George came to faith later in life and once he did, he was all in.  He didn’t see Jesus as a ticket out of hell but as the all-consuming reality of his life, worthy of his total allegiance.  This is why George persistently read the Scriptures and prayed when we gathered as a family.

The world didn’t notice his death, but the Lord was honored in his life.  And his family was truly blessed by and through him.

As we gathered to honor his life, we were compelled to consider our own death.  As one of the Romanian preachers said, we’re all racing toward our own graves.  This is a sobering reality and worthy of much reflection.

A funeral confronts you with the unbending reality of your mortality.  A loved one’s death makes you think of your own.  And their life, especially if it’s the kind of life George lived, makes us reevaluate the trajectory of our lives.  A funeral encourages us to live for what matters most.

What’s Most Important

In our text today, Luke 10:1-20, we’re challenged to think about what we’re living for, what matters most to us, what defines us.  In this passage, Jesus sends out workers to do his work.  He says they’ll be accepted by some and rejected by others.  He says that those who reject them will do so at great cost to themselves.  But then he says that the most important thing, the thing that matters most, isn’t their work for him, but that they belong to him.

In this text we’ll see workers sent (vv. 1-9), woes spoken (vv. 10-16), and names written (vv. 17-20).  The main point of this text is that God’s work is eternally important but not most important.

Workers Sent

In verses 1-9, we see Jesus send out workers.  Ever since chapter 5, Jesus has been gathering disciples (vv. 1-11).  In chapter 6, he chose twelve of them to be his special and primary followers.  We don’t know if the three folks from 9:57-62 ended up becoming followers, but we learned that if you wanted to follow Jesus, a difficult decision had to be made.  Following him was all or nothing because he demanded ultimate allegiance.

So it’s surprising to find so large a group, more than seventy people, who’re following Jesus in chapter 10.  This shows us that Jesus’ movement was more than a tight-knit group of twelve, but was a substantial missionary enterprise, and this despite the very high standards for admission.  Jesus is sharing his mission with a much wider circle than the twelve, sending out seventy-two.

Jesus choosing this number isn’t accidental.  Seventy is the number of nations that were scattered at Babel.  It’s as though Jesus is hinting at his plan to send his followers on a world-wide mission to all the nations.  As we’ll see, Jesus’ ministry, and by extension, the ministry of his disciples, is the beginning of the end for Satan and the gods of the nations.  This is the beginning of the great reversal, the beginning of the reestablishment of God’s kingdom on the earth.[1]

Jesus sends out these disciples “two by two” (v. 1) so they have companionship and mutual support, and also because the law required two witnesses for a valid legal testimony.

In verse 2, Jesus tells his workers to pray for more workers.  Jesus knows there’s a great harvest that has to be gathered into his barn, so as Lord of the Harvest he gives his workers their orders: pray for more workers.

The harvest is immense, but Jesus’ proposal is simple: pray for workers because, even with seventy-two going out, there aren’t enough workers, so Jesus says pray for God to reverse the trend.  He doesn’t mention things like long-range planning, better business management, crafting nice vision statements, or raising money.  He simply says, “Pray.”

But his challenge to pray doesn’t negate the urgency of the work.  The disciples should pray while they “go” (v. 3a).  Prayer and work aren’t at odds.  Prayer doesn’t mean passivity.

The mission is urgent and may be dangerous (v. 3b).  It’s so urgent that they don’t need to bother with taking a lot of stuff.  They even need to avoid saying hi to friends on the road (v. 4).  This is likely hyperbolic language indicating that the mission is extremely urgent.

When they come to a house, they bless it with a word of “peace,” or “shalom” (v. 5).  If there’s someone there who accepts them, a “son of peace,” then they should stay.  If not, their peace will come back to them like a bounced check (v. 6b).

Verses 7-8 talk about the kind of posture the disciples should have among those who accept them.  They weren’t to take much with them because they needed to depend on God for everything they need.  The way God will provide for his messengers is through the hospitality of those they’re sent to.  Provision will come from the houses that welcome them.

Paul upheld this principle, quoting verse 7 to Timothy (1 Tim. 5:18), and arguing that the work (and workers) of the gospel should be maintained by those who benefit from it (1 Cor. 9:3-18).  But this doesn’t mean it’s okay for gospel ministers to “shop around” until they find the best food and best bed in town.  Doing this insults their first host and sends the message that their conveniences are more important than proclaiming the gospel.  Jesus says there’s to be no slithering around town looking for the best room and board.

Verse 9 summarizes the work of these workers: heal and proclaim.  Followers of Jesus Christ are sent into the world to proclaim and reveal God’s kingdom.  We speak and show the gospel.  Speaking is more important than showing but speaking without showing is empty words.

The work of these workers reveals that the future age has invaded the present age, that heaven is coming to earth, that the kingdom of God is infiltrating the kingdom of men.  It hasn’t come completely, but in Jesus, and by extension those who represent him, the beginning of the end has begun.  God’s work through these workers is urgent because it’s eternally important.

Woes Spoken

The eternal significance of their work is highlighted by what Jesus says next about those who reject them.  In verses 10-16, we see woes spoken.

Jesus says that not everyone will be happy to hear the news that God’s kingdom has arrived.  As he told the twelve previously (9:5), when they’re rejected they’re to symbolically shake the dust off their feet (v. 11).  This communicated that those who rejected them would be rejected by God, in effect saying, “We’re even leaving your dust behind to face God’s judgement and we’re free of responsibility for you.”

Jesus even says that people who reject these messengers will be punished more severely than Sodom on judgment day (v. 12).  Jesus says the same about Chorazin, Bethsaida, and even his home-base of Capernaum (vv. 13-15).  Jesus says that these pagan nations will fare better on judgment day than towns full of Israelites, God’s chosen people.  This was profoundly shocking!

Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom won’t get a pass on judgment day, but God’s judgment will be less severe for them than for these Galilean towns.

Why?  Because these Jewish towns had the Messiah walking and working and preaching in their midst, and because they were offered a more explicit call to repentance than Sodom.  So they’re more guilty for their response of rejection.

Rejecting their message was serious business because it was an eternally important message (v. 11b).  And because it was a rejection of God himself (v. 16).

All who die without conscious faith in Christ will be judged and perish eternally.  However, because God is just, his judgment will be based on the light that we received.  Those who reject lots of light will receive a more severe judgment.  Nineteenth century Anglican pastor J. C. Ryle says this: “(These declarations) teach us that all will be judged according to their spiritual light, and that from those who have enjoyed most religious privileges, most will be required.”[2]

How could people reject such a beautiful message?  God’s kingdom has come!  You can be reconciled to your Maker!  He wants to save you!  Heaven has come to earth!

Ryle says it’s because of “the exceeding hardness and unbelief of the human heart.  It was possible to hear Christ preach, and to see Christ’s miracles, and yet to remain unconverted.”[3]

The message is rejected, not because it’s a message of hope, but because it’s a message of repentance.  As Mark says, “(The Twelve) went out and proclaimed that people should repent” (6:12).  People who don’t want to own their sin before a holy God and change their ways in light of his kingdom coming in Jesus are setting themselves up for judgment.

Those who reject repentance, reject grace because they assume they don’t need it.  This kind of self-righteousness, or belief that sin isn’t a big deal and that good deeds can make up for any faults, is the pathway to hell.  Those who don’t repent aren’t saved.  Those who reject repentance accept judgment.

God’s work is eternally important; so much is at stake.  The message of his kingdom coming in Christ is an urgent message that demands a clear response: repentance and faith.  If you’ve heard this message but not clearly responded in faith and repentance, you must do so today!

Names Written

In verses 17-20, after instructing his workers on what to expect in their mission, he says something unexpected.

Jesus sends workers, calls for prayer for more workers, elevates the urgency of the work, highlights the danger of the work, talks about the blessings of the work, and the judgement for rejecting the work, and then when his workers return from the work he sent them to do, he tells them, “If you think your work for me is the most important thing, you’ve misunderstood.  Your joy must be rooted in who you are, not in what you do.”

As I’ve said, the work of the seventy-two is massively and eternally important.  Jesus even says here that there’s a spiritual conflict underneath their ministry.  There’s a supernatural dimension to the work they’re engaged in.  Jesus says that, as a result of their work, he “saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (v. 18).  This vision reveals just how significant their mission was.

On judgment day, God will finally defeat Satan.  But even though Satan’s final defeat is still in the future, his destruction is revealed in the present as Jesus and his workers cast out demons.  In Jesus’ vision this is depicted as a cataclysmic fall, “swift as a flash of lightning.”[4]   Satan and his minions are still wreaking havoc on earth, but their end is inevitable, an end revealed through the work of Jesus’ workers.  This means that their work is a big deal, with massive, eternal, and spiritual implications.

But then Jesus says that there’s something more important than their work (v. 20).  Rather than obsessing over spiritual power, they should rejoice that they belong to God.  Their salvation, not their power over demons, should be their sustaining joy.

And their salvation was sure and stable no matter what happened because their “names were written in heaven” (v. 20).  The New Testament says that God has a “book” (Phil. 4:3), or “roll” (Heb. 12:23), of all the names of his people.  The book is called “the Lamb’s book of life,” and the names were “written before the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8, 17:8, 20:12, 21:27).

You don’t write your name in this book, it’s not your book.  It’s the Lamb’s book.  And the Lord doesn’t write your name in this book after he’s observed how awesome you are.  No, the names in this book were written before you existed.  This is sobering because it reminds us that salvation belongs to the Lord.  And encouraging because the Lord never changes his mind.  He didn’t write your name with a pencil.  If your name is in this book, it can never be erased.

Why does Jesus bring this book up?  To remind his workers what matters most.  They think their work for Jesus is the most important thing.  So Jesus reminds them that spiritual achievement isn’t more important than belonging to God.  He’s saying, “If you think your work for me is the most important thing, you’ve misunderstood.  Your joy must be rooted in who you are, not in what you do.”  This is the matter that matters most.

The Matter that Matters Most

For those of you who’re following Jesus, keep up the good work, do all the work you can for the Lord, but remember that your work for him doesn’t save you or define you.

If you’re not yet a follower of Jesus, it’s easy to think that you need to start doing lots of different things to be a Christian, but Jesus says working for him won’t save you.  The only way to know that you belong to God is by totally trusting in Jesus’ work for you, not your work for him.

When we begin following Jesus and see him work in our lives, it’s good to be grateful for that work.  But Jesus says our primary joy isn’t in the power he gives us or in the success of our mission, but in knowing him.

Our highest thrill shouldn’t be in power but in grace.  We don’t obsess over power or visible results but we rest in who Jesus says we are.  This is the matter that matters most.  God’s work is eternally important but not most important.

George Tolan understood this.  His life revealed his faith.  It was sobering to look at his wallet after the funeral, to open it up and find it basically empty.  He didn’t have much by the world’s standards, but he lived for what matters most, and now he’s truly rich.

[1]Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 280-81.

[2]Quoted in Dale Ralph Davis, Luke 1-13: The Year of the Lord’s Favor, Focus on the Bible (Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus, 2021), 177.

[3]Quoted in ibid.

[4]Diane G. Chen, Luke, New Covenant Commentary Series (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017), 148.

What Does Christianity Look Like?

What does Christianity look like?  What does following Jesus look like?  How do you know when you see the real thing?  How do you know if you have the real thing?

In our culture, some associate following Jesus with being part of a particular political party or with standing against the moral evils of our time.  Some associate Christianity with intolerance, with a posture of destroying those we disagree with.  Others associate following Jesus with moral or intellectual improvements.  Still others assume that following Jesus means praying a prayer for salvation and then living however you want.

There are all kinds of images of and ideas about Christianity in our culture.  How can we know what the real thing is, what a true follower of Jesus looks like?

This is a massively important yet relatively easy question to answer.  The Bible tells us repeatedly that those who belong to God love God with their whole heart and love their neighbors as themselves (eg. Mt. 22:37-40).  A true believer loves God and loves others.  Their life is oriented vertically toward God and horizontally toward others.

As we come to our text today, Luke 9:51-62, we see an example of this in the way Jesus instructs his disciples.  In the first eight chapters of Luke, the main question is “Who is Jesus?”  Then in chapter 9, Peter says that Jesus is “the Christ of God” (v. 20) and then in the transfiguration, the glory of Jesus as the Son of God is revealed (9:28-36).

The question in this last part of chapter nine is, if Jesus is who he says he is, then what does it mean to follow him?  What does a true follower of his look like?  In 9:51-62, we learn that a true follower of Jesus has two things: an unusual love for outsiders and an unconditional commitment to Jesus.  What we see here is the great commandment in reverse form.  Following Jesus means loving others and loving God.

Unusual Love for Outsiders

Let’s take these one at a time.  First, in 9:51-56, we learn that following Jesus means having an unusual love for outsiders.  Verse 51 marks a major thematic change in Luke’s Gospel.  It signals the end of Jesus’ presence in Galilee and the beginning of the fulfilment of his purpose in Jerusalem.  He’s determined to pursue the suffering that his departure (or “exodus,” v. 31) will entail in Jerusalem.  He doesn’t stumble toward his death, he embraces it as his destiny.  The Father sent his Son, and Jesus went to the cross in complete obedience to his Father.

Verse 52 says Jesus sent some of the disciples ahead of him to “prepare the way.”  They’ve inherited the role of John the Baptist, “preparing the way of the Lord” (3:4).

But verse 53 says that the Samaritans didn’t receive him.  It’s not surprising that the Samaritans rejected him.  There was hatred and ethnic tension between the Jews and Samaritans.  As John says, “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans” (4:8).

The antagonism was so great that when James and John learned that they weren’t welcome there, they wanted to incinerate the Samaritans (v. 54).  They’re living up to their reputation as the “Sons of Thunder” (Mk. 3:17).  They were so angry that they wanted to kill these people!

Maybe they were thinking of when Elijah called down fire on the soldiers sent to him from King Ahaziah in 2 Kings 1:10-12.  But Jesus’ response makes it clear that their idea is totally misguided.  Verse 55, “But he turned and rebuked them.”  This is the same word used for exorcisms, when Jesus would “rebuke” demons.  The disciples couldn’t help the little boy with demons and now they’re thinking like demons.

Their lingering pride from verse 46 is palpable.  They wanted to be the greatest and now they’re willing to destroy anyone who gets in their way.  But Jesus gets in their way and says, “Enough!”

Jesus sharply rejects their fanaticism.  They’re willing to use any force necessary to accomplish God’s will, and Jesus says, “That’s not the way.”  They’re right to call him “Lord,” but don’t understand that he’s not a lord like the Roman emperors who exercised their power indiscriminately.

Wrong about Three Things

The disciples are wrong about three things: they’re wrong about Jesus, about the Samaritans, and about discipleship.  They wrongly think that Jesus wants to accomplish his will through force and violence.  They don’t understand that his plan is to win through losing.  It’ll be Jesus’ weakness, suffering, rejection, and even death that will accomplish the Father’s will.

They’re also wrong about the Samaritans.  Even though the Samaritans reject Jesus here, they’re portrayed as heroic helpers in just a few verses in the parable of the Good Samaritan.  It’s a Samaritan who Jesus uses as an example of gratitude for grace in 17:15-16.  And in Acts 8, when Philip preaches the gospel in Samaria, it’s received with favor (vv. 4-8).

And they’re wrong about discipleship.  Disciples aren’t judges, they’re servants.  Disciples are servants, not masters.

Verse 56 beautifully brings out Jesus’ alternative to righting wrongs, getting even, and perpetuating cycles of vengeance, “And they went on to another village.”  Jesus understood that rejection means that others will get to hear the gospel.  Followers of Jesus know what to do when rejected: they just move on, trusting that the Lord has others for them to minister to.

Love Your Neighbor

I said that these verses show us that following Jesus looks like an unusual love for outsiders.  This little episode illustrates and applies the second part of the great commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  And this command comes with no qualifications!  It doesn’t say, “Love people if they’re nice to you,” or “Love people as long as they accept you,” or “You’re free to retaliate when people reject you.”

Jesus’ followers love people, period.  So what does a follower of Jesus look like?  They look like someone who loves people.  This love starts at home, as we love one another in the church (Jn. 13:34-35, 1 Jn. 4:7-8).  But it naturally spills over into our love for those in close proximity to our lives, that is, our “neighbors.”

It’s understandable that we’d love family, but loving outsiders is unusual.  For the disciples to love other Jews would’ve been natural.  But loving Samaritans?  That’s supernatural and unusual.

What can this sort of unusual love for outsiders look like for us?  It starts by understanding that all people are made in God’s image.  All people carry inherent dignity, value, and worth because they carry God’s image.  Whether someone immigrated here legally or illegally, is a Democrat or Republican, male or female, rich or poor, old or young, gay or straight or trans, conservative or liberal, white or black or brown, speaks English or not, is Christian or Muslim or Mormon, none of these things determine a person’s unique value in God’s eyes.  They’re made in his image and fallen in sin, just like you, so we love them, even if we disagree with aspects of their lives.

We love the outsider with unusual love by engaging in dialogue with them with the goal of understanding.  People won’t care about your ideas if you don’t love them.  Their ears will remain shut if your heart remains cold.  It’s entirely possible to be loving without being affirming.  It’s completely illogical to conclude that if someone disagrees with your lifestyle choices, they therefore don’t love you.  In fact, those who love you the most will tell you the truth.

There’s a way to tell people the truth that’s persuasive, not combative.  It’s by using our words to build up, not tear down.  Solomon says, “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life” (Pro. 10:11).  “A gentle tongue is a tree of life” (15:4).  Wise people speak words that bring life rather than death.  “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (18:21).  Our words should bring more light than heat.  Fire burns things down, light makes things grow and flourish.

James and John want to destroy people with fire; we often do the same with our words.  They saw the Samaritans as a threat to be taken out, rather than as outsiders to be loved.  They assumed the rejection of the Samaritans warranted violence and retribution.  They wanted to judge these outsiders, not love them, so “Jesus turned and rebuked them” (v. 55).  Jesus needed his followers to know that this sort of posture toward outsiders did not align with his mission.  His disciples needed to know that destroying your enemies is not the posture of those following the One who would die for his.

Unconditional Commitment to Jesus

A follower of Jesus looks like someone with an unusual love for outsiders, but they also have an unconditional commitment to Jesus (vv. 57-62).

If Jesus were a pastor, his church probably wouldn’t have grown very fast!  People come to him wanting to join and he says, “I don’t think you’re ready.”  He tells these guys that they don’t know what they’re asking, that they don’t understand what it means to follow him.

So what does it mean to follow Jesus? Jesus says it means unconditional commitment.  His grace is free, you can’t earn it.  But following him will cost you everything.

“I Will Follow You Wherever You Go”

The first man comes to him with lots of bravado, “I will follow you wherever you go” (v. 57).  Jesus points out that this is a vow much easier to make than keep (v. 58).

Why does Jesus respond like this?  Because this man had zeal without knowledge.  He said he was ready to go wherever Jesus went but he needed to understand that Jesus was homeless.  This guy strikes me as how many of us are when we’re younger.  We’re committed to commitment and excited about excitement but haven’t yet grasped the daily grind of following Jesus.  But Jesus tells this man that following him entails suffering.  This man wants to follow him, but Jesus wonders whether he’s ready to suffer.

Kingdom First

Jesus always gets bad PR for how he responds to the next two guys (vv. 59-62).  The Jews regarded burying the dead as a holy and sacred thing.  Neglecting the burial of the dead was a major offense against the Torah, even against ancient Greek wisdom.

But Jesus says, “Don’t worry about it, just come follow me.”  Some say this is one of the most radical things Jesus said.  So why does he say it?  Because his disciples need to know that his kingdom takes precedence over any tradition.  His authority supersedes all other authorities.  The kingdom of God must be the first priority for his followers.

The next guy wants to follow Jesus but wants to say goodbye to his family first (vv. 61-62).  This reminds us of the prophet Elijah allowing Elisha to say goodbye to his parents before following him (1 Kgs. 19:19-21).

But Jesus says no.  Why?  Because his authority is greater than Elijah, his demands more stringent than his.  Discipleship to Jesus is different than discipleship to Elijah.

No Limits on Jesus’ Lordship

These last two guys don’t understand the urgency of the kingdom.  They don’t understand that in Jesus, the end of the ages has begun, that God’s final kingdom is coming to the earth through him, and that, therefore, everything is less important than following him.

Jesus tells them that there can be no conditions on their obedience.  He calls for absolute commitment.  Absolute obedience is impossible because we’ll all fail in many ways, but to truly be a follower of Jesus we have to understand what he asks us to do.

Simply put, he calls us to abdicate the throne of our life.  To step into his kingdom, you have to get rid of all the “but firsts”: “I’ll follow you, but first…”  If there are any conditions on your following him, then you’re still in your own kingdom.

Augustine famously says in his Confessions, “Make me good but not yet.”  Many of us want to follow Jesus but we don’t want to give up certain things.  Maybe we’re in a relationship that we know isn’t good or right but we’re scared to give it up.  Maybe we’re looking the other way when shady things are happening at work.  Maybe we have a secret addiction that we assume is no big deal because it doesn’t seem to be hurting anyone.

What Jesus is saying here is that there are no limits on his Lordship.  Many have been taught that you can have Jesus as Savior without following him as Lord.  Of course, he is Savior, but he’s also Lord, and you can’t have one without the other.  We can’t have half of him.  We must take all of him or we get none of him.

If you invite me to your house and say, “Come in John, but stay out Sypert,” I wouldn’t know what to do because I’m John Sypert.  I couldn’t even say, “This half is John and this half is Sypert” because I’m all John and all Sypert.  I’m both so you either get all of me or none of me.

Think about it, anything you make more important than Christ is your Savior.  If you’re looking to your job, kids, grandkids, ministry, education, wealth, knowledge, or relationship as your ultimate hope and identity, then you’re looking to those things to save you.

Crossing the Border

This means that Christianity isn’t merely ethical and doctrinal improvement.  It’s not like changing political parties.  Following Jesus is a qualitative, not quantitative, change in your status and nature.  Through faith in Christ, the power of the future age, the kingdom of God, comes into your life and everything begins to change.

Many are interested in Christianity, or want the benefits of heaven and salvation, but they haven’t crossed the border into the kingdom of God.  If you drove from Dallas to Canada, you’d still be in America until you cross the border.  You can drive all that way and get to the border but still not be in Canada.

So it is with the kingdom of God.  You can make all the improvements and learn all the lingo without crossing into the kingdom of God.

But when you take that last step, when you realize that heaven isn’t for good people but for people who know they’re not good and have given their lives to Christ, you’re transferred from one realm into another realm.  The future realm of the kingdom of God comes into your life, though partially, and you start reorienting everything around following Jesus.

If you maintain any conditions to following Christ, you’re still just inside the border.  You’re still king.  You’re still in the driver’s seat.

You know you’ve crossed the border when you understand that Jesus demands unconditional commitment and you’re happy to give it to him because you understand that he gave his life for you.  And as you give your life to him, you also begin to see people differently.  You begin seeing outsiders as he sees them.  You want to love people who’re different rather than destroy them.

So what does following Jesus look like?  Unconditional surrender and unusual love.  Is that you?

I have a question for y’all: when we pray do you notice how people often end by saying “in Jesus’ name”? Why not in our name? Imagine I wrote a letter but instead of signing my name at the bottom I wrote “sincerely, Jesus”. Ending with “In Jesus’ name” is not something prescribed in the Bible, but it’s helpful for understanding the nature of our prayer.

In and Out

Knowing Jesus

● 5:21 the Pharisees accuse “who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

They’re not just asking about Jesus’ literal name, they are trying to understand who he is as a person. What gives him the authority to do the things he does?

Peter then confesses who Jesus is plainly. “He’s the Christ”. He’s the prophesied savior of the world. This is a huge revelation! The people of God have been anticipating the coming of the Christ since God made a promise in the garden of Eden that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. He’s here! As Colossians says its the mystery hidden for ages but now revealed! [pause] Now what? How does this change the disciples’ lives? That’s a question for us today too. Many of you in this room would agree that Jesus is the Christ. How does it change your life?

Undercover boss

We’ll see in today’s passage how we’re called to live in light of the revealed mission and person of Jesus. Here is the main point today: The surpassing worth of the name of Jesus humbles us to service and unity. Did you catch that? Humility, service, unity. So we’ll start with talking about the problem: namely the need for humility in light of who Jesus is in verse 46, and then we’ll cover how that drives us to service for others in verses 47-48, and finally how Jesus motivates our unity among one another in verses 49-50. [read v46]

● Our name vs Jesus’ name (making a name for Christ, not ourselves)

Let’s first step back and remember Jesus’ words right before our passage today. “Let these words sink into your ears: the son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men”. Jesus is reminding his disciples for the third time this chapter that part of his mission is going to be fulfilled on a cross. He’s going to die. How would you respond? [pause]. The disciples didn’t know how to respond to Jesus. In fact they were afraid to ask him about it. What do they say instead? I think Luke is being very deliberate about placing today’s passage right after Jesus’ reminder.

○ 46 An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest.

What?! Instead of pressing into Jesus, they default back to themselves. In other words they compartmentalized. “There’s Jesus’ life, and there’s my life.” The truth of who Jesus was hadn’t gripped them. It was just another fact. Jesus is from Nazareth, he’s good at carpentry, and he’s the Christ. It’s another fact. [pause] Has who Jesus is sunk in for you? Why is it so hard to live in light of this? Like the disciples show here, we’re often too blinded by ourselves to be able to clearly see Christ. Our pride is blinding.

We might not be as blunt as the disciples but aren’t we prone to that same pride? Have you ever been talking to someone and heard your name mentioned across the room? You might even be trying really hard to focus on the person in front of you but one ear keeps tugging the other way. What are they saying about me? Is it good or bad? Should I join their conversation? What your heart might be doing at that moment is feeding pride. We’re seeking to justify our own greatness.

Let’s dig a little deeper into why the disciples might be asking who the greatest is. Think about what the disciples have experienced in this chapter. Verse 1 Jesus sends them on their first evangelistic trip and part of that was giving them the ability to cast out demons and cure diseases. Imagine what that must have been like. They were literally given superpowers. Imagine what that can do to an ego. People who were going to die are alive because you healed them. I’m sure they got a lot of tearful thank you’s and praise. They went from being random fishermen to somebodies. It’d be hard not to get a big head. We see glimpses into what the disciples thought process shortly after their trip. Verse 10 says “On their return the apostles told him all that they had done”. You might say “and?” they did do those miracles didn’t they? How is this prideful? Every word is important. What the disciples are doing is subtly trying to make a name for themselves. Jesus in fact doesn’t even comment on their statement.

Let’s compare with another group of disciples who are sent out in chapter 10: “the 72 returned with joy saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!’”. Do you see the emphasis on the name of Jesus? . And to this Jesus responds “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven”. What’s the difference? These disciples know where the power lies. It’s not in them it’s in Jesus.

Some of you here have been gifted with a lot of ability. Maybe it’s in your intellect or your persuasiveness or charm. Remember these are all given by God to be stewarded for him. The more we have ability the more we need humility.

Telescope Example

I have a friend that is really into astronomy and every once in a while he would invite me to a star party. Basically, we’d stay up super late and trek out into the dark cold with a bunch of other people. When we got to the site, there’d be these massive telescopes and fancy instruments that people would truck from their house. Don’t get me wrong, these telescopes were impressive. I’m sure some of them cost a pretty penny. But what did we go out to see? To admire the lenses? What mattered was looking through the lens up into the sky at massive stars and planets! We’d admire the moon’s craters and the arm of the milky way stretched out across the sky. The impressive part was marveling at what God has done. What he has made. As Christians we’re called to the same thing. Don’t look at the telescope, look at what the telescope’s pointing at. Our life is meant to point to someone infinitely greater!

So now that we know where the disciples are coming from, let’s get back to their question: who is the greatest? I hope y’all know the answer by this point (sunday school answer: Jesus!). Jesus’ goal is not that the disciples would merely know this as another fact. He wants that truth to affect every part of their life. So instead of answering the disciples’ question he gives an object lesson: something to live out. He wants to show that those who are great in God’s eyes act in Jesus’ name. This is our next section on service.

● Our Service v-47-48 (acting in Christ’s name)

○ 47-48 But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”

Why does Jesus pull over a child? In his day, kids were near the bottom of the social ladder. A kid doesn’t have the strength for hard labor, most don’t have any powerful connections or great wisdom. Especially in the eyes of those in the ancient near east, they have nothing to offer. Why invest in them? One reason is because they’re people who Jesus loves. Contained here is how we’re to love the lowly and why we’re to do it.

● How we serve

Firstly, Jesus speaks to those who receive a child in his name. Jesus is asking his disciples to do something on behalf of himself. When they care for people like this child, what Jesus is saying is that they’re illustrating the way Jesus himself would receive that child. Another way to put it is he’s calling Christians to act as his ambassadors. To act in his name. How do we know Jesus would receive a child? Because he just did it in the last passage.

The Demon Possessed Boy

Think back to last week’s sermon where Jesus heals a demon possessed boy. Not only is this a child, this child is not alright. He barely has control over his body. His skin is probably scabbed with burns from being through into the fire. He’s foaming at the mouth. Jesus sees all this and says “come to me”. Where most people would run Jesus calls him closer. We see illustrated here that that Jesus never calls his disciples to anything he hasn’t already done to the fullest. So when Christians help those who can’t give anything back, what’s on display is primarily a glimpse into the greatness of Jesus’ love for others.

● Why do we serve

Jesus continues, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. We not only joyfully serve others to make much of Jesus, our service is actually to our gain because we receive Jesus himself! And Jesus puts a fine point on it that to have him is to have fellowship with God. Do you see the significance? It’s the difference between serving on behalf of the king and being with the king himself.

Jesus’s words to his disciples reveal what true greatness is. The disciples think that the reward for being in Jesus’ kingdom is their own prestige. What Jesus says is that true greatness is actually having more of him. Look at the logic of what Jesus says at the end. To paraphrase it, “those who receive the lowly receive me. For (and here is why) the least of you is the greatest”. What Jesus is saying is you want to know where greatness is? It’s at the bottom because I’m there. Be near me. We become more like Jesus when we’re around the people and things he cares about. The point Jesus is making is not glorifying poverty or weakness. What Jesus is getting at is to posture yourself lower than others. In other words, serve with humility.

What do the disciples have to say about Jesus’ words?

Let’s keep reading

● Our Unity v49-50

○ 49 John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.”

○ 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.”

Luke now shifts the focus of the story. What we’ve seen so far is individual responsibility to serve others in Christ’s name. But who are we going to serve alongside? In the first section the disciples’ attitude is me vs you as in “who is the greatest individual?” In this next section Luke tackles the same attitude from a different angle: “who is the greatest group?”

Christians are bound together by one name. As Galatians 3:28 says “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” To be a christian means to be a little Christ so we are united in Jesus’ name. What does unity look like? There are 3 principles we can draw from this encounter.

United in service (adopted in the name of Christ)

First, Christians are united in their service. Not much is known about this man the disciples confronted. We do know the disciples say “he does not follow with us” so he wasn’t one of the 12 disciples but that’s very different from saying “he does not follow Jesus”. He probably knew something of Jesus’ ministry since he recognized Jesus’ power, but seemed to be just a regular guy. No one of position. Think about the disciples’ viewpoint for a second. Who does this guy think he is? The disciples were given power from Jesus personally to be sent out. They probably put a lot of pride in being one of the chosen few. And here comes a random guy doing the exact same thing after the disciples themselves are no longer able to heal. Jesus doesn’t stop him because the man’s emphasis is in the right place. Whether it’s by Jesus’ closest 12 or someone following him from afar, in the end Jesus is glorified.

Leaders equip the saints

This is an example of how leaders are not the only ones called to serve Jesus. In fact Paul talks about this in Ephesians 4:11-12. It says “11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, (aka these leaders) 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” Members if you’re not serving in the church and have the ability to, don’t wait for the professionals. Get equipped and start! It’s meant as a means for you to enjoy Christ through serving.

United in Success

Secondly, we see that Jesus says that “the one who is not against you is for you”. If Jesus’ glory is the goal, then the success of one is the success of all. We’re united in success. It didn’t matter that the disciples weren’t the ones casting out the demons. We see this in 1 Corinthians 12:26 “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”

Beach Reach

Back in college there was a yearly evangelism outreach called beach reach that I and others at UTD would take part in. Everyone would pack into a van and we’d go out at night to share the gospel with college students partying on South Padre island. Night after night we’d have these great conversations with people but I never saw anyone on our van accept Christ. Despite that, our team always came back encouraged! Why? Because we weren’t the only van. All across the island were stories of people coming to Christ in other peoples’ vans. It didn’t matter who reaped, but that the gospel was proclaimed.

United in Forbearance

There’s another side of the coin if we trust Jesus that “the one who is not against you is for you”. Jesus states this in the positive. He could have said it the opposite way. “the one who is for you is not against you”. But by flipping it Jesus is opening the doors wider. It means we can ordinarily assume the best intentions of fellow believers. We’re united in forbearance. That’s a pretty bold claim. Think about it this way: is Christ for you? And is your brother or sister in Christ?

As a caveat this doesn’t minimize the need to speak correction to one another out of love at times. In Acts we see Priscilla and Aquilla correct Apollos on one of the most important issues: the gospel itself! Their goal though was not to write Apollos off, but to better equip him with sound doctrine.

Conclusion

To land the plane, I want to tell you about a guy named Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (try saying that 3 times fast). He was a German nobleman of the 1700s that was responsible for establishing much of the Moravian church. The Moravians were basically protestants before protestantism was a thing. Zinzendorf was taking in all these persecuted Christians and inviting them to stay in a village on his property in Germany. And of course when you group a lot of different people together with strong opinions on theology, conflict started brewing. Through a lot of prayer, visitations, and reminding these people of their brotherhood in Christ, he was able to unify them into the modern moravian church. He didn’t stop there though! His life’s work was spent sending out moravian missionaries to the least of these among the slaves of the west indies and Greenland a century before modern protestant missions began. Despite being a nobleman, he himself risked a voyage to the west indies expecting to die there. What motivated him? His most famous quote says a lot. His motto was that he would “preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten.” What Zinzendorf understood was that our names will all eventually be lost to history. There’s only one name that will stand and is worthy forever. Invest your life in the name of Jesus which is truly great. Let’s pray.

From Majesty to a Mess

One of the things I love about the Gospels is how relevant they are to our lives today.  They map right onto our lived experience, even though we live two thousand years after the events they describe. 

For example, in the Gospels, Jesus goes up the mountain and is transfigured and becomes radiant with the glory of God, but then he comes down the mountain to find a mess.  He’s on the mountain with the glory of God!  But then he comes down to find his disciples arguing with the religious leaders, a dad desperate to find help for his son, an evil spirit who’s harming this son, and the disciples who were unable to do anything about it.  Jesus went from majesty on the mountain to a mess in the valley.  

But after Jesus intervenes and heals the boy, the amazing thing is how Luke describes what happened (v. 43).  There was majesty on the mountain and majesty in this mess.  Jesus reveals the majesty of God in the transfiguration and in this act of compassion. 

But even this beautiful display of mercy isn’t the main event.  Jesus again insists that his story will not end the way his disciples think it should, telling them that he’ll be defeated eventually (v. 44).

In this text we see more majesty (vv. 37-43a) and more confusion (vv. 43b-45).  We see the majesty of God in the mercy of Jesus, a mercy pointing us to his death. 

In this episode, we come off the mountain with Jesus into a valley of confusion and despair and evil, into the kind of place we often find ourselves.  Yet, even in this valley, we see the majesty of mercy at work.

More Majesty

In verses 37-43a, we see more majesty of Jesus, namely, the majesty of his mercy.  The language in verse 37 of Jesus “coming down from the mountain” signals a connection to Moses coming down from Mount Sinai in Exodus.  He’s been meeting with God and comes down to find that the people have created a golden calf to worship.  He comes down to find a “faithless generation.”  This is exactly what Jesus finds as well.

Verse 38 says there’s a man in crowd who’s crying out for Jesus to help his son, his “only child.”  He’s making a passionate and heart-rending appeal, saying, “I beg you!”  The situation is dire.  The son is being attacked by a demonic spirit that “seizes him” and shakes him and throws him down.  The demon causes him to have seizures so that he foams at the mouth.  Mark’s account says that the demon has been attacking him like this for some time, even trying to kill him by throwing him into fire and water (9:21-22).  Luke says that the demon “shatters him” (CSB says, “bruising him”).  And that it “will hardly leave him.” 

There’s nothing harder for a parent than to see your child suffer.  One of the scariest sufferings a parent can have is when their child begins to seize.  This happened to our sweet Lidia several years ago when her fever spiked so high and so fast that it caused her to begin to seize in Suzy’s arms.  I was out of town and felt utterly helpless.  Suzy was understandably terrified and thought she was watching our baby girl die in her arms.  The paramedics came and Lidia came out of it okay.  But I can understand why this father was literally begging Jesus to help. 

This dad actually started by begging the disciples to help because Jesus was still up on the mountain (v. 40).  But they “could not.”  Luke is setting up a contrast between the disciple’s inability and Jesus’ power, a contrast between apprentice and Master.

Jesus responds to the situation in verse 41.  These seem like rather harsh words, but Mark’s account tells us that Jesus comes down to find the disciples arguing with the teachers of the law (9:14), so Jesus’ rebuke is for the disciples and the larger crowd, many of whom are opposed to his ministry. 

The reference to a “faithless and twisted (or “corrupt”) generation” echoes something Moses says about Israel in Deuteronomy 32:5, “They are a crooked and twisted generation.”  The people at the foot of this mountain are not much different than the people at the foot of Mount Sinai.  Neither trusted the Lord, which always leads to following a “crooked” path.

What Jesus finds at the bottom of the Mount of Transfiguration is yet more indication that the spiritual condition of Israel was not good.  Their lack of faith and twisted ways are a wearisome thing to Jesus.  He longs for a people who’ll trust him.  “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6).  

As the father and his son make their way to Jesus, the demon tries to flex his muscles one more time to intimidate Jesus and scare the crowd (v. 42a).  But this demon has no power compared to Jesus.  All it takes is one word of rebuke and the boy is instantly healed (v. 42b).  There’s no sense of struggle.  Jesus’ word of rebuke is instantly effective.

And then notice the sweet moment at the end of verse 42, “and Jesus gave him back to his father.”  The father’s longing is fulfilled by the word of Jesus.  His heart-rending appeal to Jesus is met by Jesus’ tender mercy.  This boy is whole again, and this father has his son back.  What a beautiful picture of how the healing power of Jesus can not only destroy evil strongholds but also reconcile us with those we love.

God’s Majesty Revealed Again

Then there’s Luke’s summary statement in verse 43, telling us that everyone there was “astonished at the majesty of God.”  Luke could’ve picked lots of words to describe what just happened, but he chose to say that this was a display of God’s “majesty.” 

I think he does this to link what happens here to what happened up on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Peter later says that he was an “eyewitness of Jesus’ majesty” during the transfiguration, and the “Majestic Glory” spoke to Jesus on the “holy mountain” (2 Pet. 1:16-18).

The majesty of God was revealed up on the mountain.  Here, the majesty of God is revealed down in the valley.  This exorcism is a revelation of the glory of Jesus’ mercy.  Jesus’ person is glorious and Jesus’ work is glorious! 

Luke is telling us that the transfiguration and the mercy ministry of Jesus reveal the majesty of God.  God is praised through the revelation of Jesus’ glory and in Jesus’ repairing of human brokenness.  Jesus’ majesty is multi-faceted.

A Healing Power Still Available

Let me offer two points of application here.  First, Jesus’ healing power is still available to you.  People all over the world are still being freed from evil, healed, and restored through the power of Jesus’ merciful word.

To receive this ongoing majestic ministry of Jesus, you must do four things: understand your need, come to Jesus, commit to community, and seek reconciliation. 

Jesus’s mercy is available for those who know they need it.  As long as you think your anger or addiction or abuse is not that big a deal, you won’t change.  Jesus says it this way, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Lk. 5:31-32).

Once you understand your sickness, you must go to the doctor.  Those who know their need also need to go to the One who can meet their need.  Jesus is the only One who can truly heal.

And those who go to him must go to him in the context of community.  Jesus doesn’t have isolated cases, or people he’s healing all by themselves.  In fact, the healing he offers us ordinarily comes to us through his people.  It’s often said that we’re hurt in relationships and healed through relationships.  To want Jesus’ healing power means you must open your life to brothers and sisters who’ll love and care for and walk with you.

And when Jesus begins to heal someone, there can be reconciliation that follows.  Broken relationships are mended as broken people are healed.  Friendships and marriages and parent-child relationships can be restored as we seek the Lord’s healing power.  There’s no guarantee here, however.  But, as Paul says, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Rom. 12:18).

Life, and Ministry, is Lived in the Valley

A second application is that life is normally lived in the valley of human need.  From the mount of communion with God, Jesus descends to the world of human need. 

It means ministry flows out of communion with God.  It means Jesus came for ministry, not for isolation.  Yes, he spends time with God, but he doesn’t withdraw indefinitely. 

Raphael’s last painting is called The Transfiguration and it depicts the chaotic scene of human need below the mountain of transfiguration.  It reminds us that Jesus didn’t come to stay on the mountaintop.  Rather, he came to mend a broken world.  As Professor Darrell Bock says, Jesus came “to touch the needs of people and heal their pain.”  And he does so by opposing the dark forces “that stand opposed to humanity.”[1]  Jesus is a visitor from another world come to heal the wounds of this world.

This means that we should expect much of our life to be lived in the mundane and even misery of the valley.  Of course there are still mountaintops and sweet seasons of peace and joy when all is right.  But suffering is a normal, not abnormal, part of life on this cursed planet.  This means that doubt and despair and despondency and depression and deconstruction and darkness of all kinds are to be expected.  And in these seasons, we must not give up.  We must ask our questions, wrestle with our doubts, don’t believe the lie that what’s happening to us is unusual, and keep fighting the good fight of faith.

Let me also offer a word of counsel to any young men who’re considering pursuing seminary or vocational ministry.  Seminary is ordinarily for those pursuing some sort of teaching ministry in a local church and serving in a local church means serving people.  The goal of seminary is not to isolate and cloister yourself and debate your days away, but to train for the work of ministry.  God’s churches need shepherds willing to suffer alongside people in the valley, not scholars who only want to merely sit alone with Jesus on the mountain of glory.  The former certainly flows out of the latter, but it’s important to understand what ministry is before training for it. 

The rhythm of the gospel teaches lay people and ministers alike that suffering comes before glory.  In this episode after the transfiguration, we see the majesty of God in the mercy of Jesus as he comes off the mountain to minister in the valley of human need.

More Confusion

The next thing we see is more confusion from the disciples in verses 43b-45.  As the crowd marvels at what Jesus was doing, Jesus points them to something he will do.  He sees beyond the great impression he’s made on the crowd to when he’ll be handed over by the crowd (23:23-25).

Matthew and Mark mention that Jesus will be killed and then raised three days later, but Luke just mentions Jesus being “delivered (or “betrayed”) into the hands of men” (v. 44).  He’s highlighting the paradox between Jesus’ majestic works and his coming defeat.  The popular praise won’t last.  Jesus knows what’s coming.

The One who should be welcomed by men will instead be handed over to them so they can kill him.  The man Jesus will be betrayed by men.  The Son of Man will be rejected by those he came to serve.  God’s work is often not appreciated by those he loves.

The contrast between the marveling and the betraying couldn’t be greater.  The one everyone loves is about to be hated.  Jesus is telling his disciples to not be misled by the popular attention he’s receiving.  The crowds are amazed now but will betray him later.  Oh how fickle is the crowd!  Things seem to be going well for Jesus now, but things are going to change.

Verse 45 says that the disciples can’t comprehend how this could happen as part of God’s plan for his Chosen One (v. 35).  Jesus is challenging their thinking about how God’s salvation would come.  How could God’s Messiah be betrayed?  How could he be God’s Son and destined for death at the same time?  This is why Jesus tells them to let these words sink in (v. 44a).

A Gateway to Glory

We’ve seen Jesus’ glory on the mountain and in the valley.  His person and works are majestic.  But after the majesty of his mercy is seen, Jesus is quick to lift our eyes further downstream.  He came to heal and restore the broken, but first and foremost he came to die.

Why does Jesus want us to look beyond these things he’s doing to his death?  Why does his death seem to overshadow all these glorious things?  Why is Jesus’ death such a big deal?

Because Jesus had to die to ultimately heal his people.  When Jesus dies on the cross, he dies our death, the death we deserve to die.  Why?  Because we’ve sinned against God and our sin deserves punishing.  If God just let our sin go, he’d be unjust.  And if he were unjust, he wouldn’t be good.  But he is good, and he is just, so he must punish sin. 

This is why Jesus keeps pointing forward to his death.  We couldn’t be reconciled to God unless our sins are paid for.  A holy God couldn’t live with unholy people unless their sins are forgiven.  So because God loves his people and wants to live with them, he sends his Son to die for them.

The Majesty of Mercy

One of my jobs in preaching is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.  If you’re comfortable in your sins, I aim to make you uncomfortable because I love you and I want you to walk deeply with God. 

Do you realize how big a deal your sins are?  They separate you from God.  They deserve to be punished.  They invoke God’s wrath.  They offend God’s goodness.  They communicate our arrogance before our Maker.  And if we die in our sins, we’ll receive God’s eternal justice in hell.  Your sins of pride and lust and greed and gossip and selfishness are no small thing.  Jesus had to be slaughtered like an animal because of them.

If you understand this and you hate your sin and you want to live a life pleasing to God, I want to comfort you with the good news that Jesus’ blood washes away your sins and makes you right before God.  If you trust in Jesus, your sin is given to him and his righteousness is given to you.

Do you see the majesty of God’s mercy toward you in the death of Jesus?  Jesus’ healing of this little boy shows us his majestic mercy, a mercy pointing us to his death.

[1]Darrell L. Bock, Luke, Volume 1: 1:1-9:50, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1994), 880-1.

Jesus’ Double Glory

Today, we’re coming back to Luke 9 and the account of the transfiguration.  Some have said that this event feels out of place, like an actor who forgot his cue and prematurely burst onto the stage.  But there’s a reason why this event happens when it does.  This event is carefully placed where it is, serving as a hinge between the end of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee and the beginning of his mission to Jerusalem (Lk. 9:51).  It brings one phase to an end and introduces us to a new phase: Jesus’ suffering.

But amazingly the new phase begins with a revelation of Jesus’ glory.  Jesus is about to begin his march toward death, but first he manifests his victory.  Dark clouds are gathering, but for a moment the light of his glory is unshuddered.

As I said last week, Jesus’ glory is a double glory, or the glory of his double sonship.  The transfiguration reveals that Jesus is God’s earthly and heavenly Son.  He’s both the earthly and suffering messianic Son and the preexistent heavenly and eternally begotten Son.

In the transfiguration, we see Jesus’ former and future glory.  In the transfiguration, Jesus receives a glory that was already his.  It anticipates what’s to come and is an unveiling of what already is.  And it comes at just the right time, just as things are getting darker and darker for Jesus and his followers.

Last week, we saw this double glory, or double sonship, of Jesus by looking at the setting of the transfiguration.  Today, we’ll look at the signs and the sayings in this text and then consider the significance of this event.

The Signs

There are at least three signs in this event that are meant to show us Jesus’ double glory.  These signs are real things that really happened.  But their presence in the story signifies something or causes us to think of something beyond the thing itself.

The signs I want us to see are Jesus’ shining face and bright clothes, the presence of Moses and Elijah, and the bright cloud.  Let’s take these one at a time.

Jesus’ Shining Face and Bright Clothes

The first sign is Jesus’ shining face and his bright clothes (v. 29).  Matthew says his “face shone like the sun” (17:2).  Mark says his clothes “became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them” (9:3).  Was this light simply electromagnetic waves that hit the disciple’s optic nerves?  Or was it something else?

I’d suggest that this wasn’t mere light.  It was divine light, uncreated light.  John later declares, “God is light” (1 Jn. 1:5).  “Light” isn’t something God has, but something God is.  God’s light is the radiance and splendor of his being, the summation of the totality of his attributes.

Adam and Eve lost God’s light when they sinned, and the Old Testament ends in darkness as Israel is exiled and the temple no longer holds the glory of God.  Israel waits for God’s light to come back down to earth.

Then, in Jesus, God’s light returns!  And it returns as a twofold light: messianic and eternal.  Jesus’ messianic light is the glory he receives from the Father as the Chosen One who’ll carry out God’s mission on the earth.

As the Messiah, Jesus receives light and glory from the Father.  This is why Matthew and Mark say that Jesus “was transfigured” in the passive voice.  Jesus becomes light in the transfiguration.  His brilliant white garments also signify that he’s a “sent one,” like the angels who come in white garments (Lk. 24:4).  As Messiah, Jesus receives light.

But as the eternal Son of God, he is light.  His light is revealed.  His messianic light proceeds from his eternal light.  Notice that his shining face is mentioned before his shining clothes.  This is because Jesus’ light is a light from within.  When it touches his clothes, they also radiate his brilliance.

The closest Old Testament connection to this moment is Moses’ shining face when he comes down from Mount Sinai.  After meeting with God, his face is shining so brightly that he puts a veil over it (Ex. 34:29-35).  Jesus, like Moses, reflects God’s light on the mountain.  But, unlike Moses, he also reveals God’s light, as it’s a light that comes from his own being.  The brightness of Moses’ face was a reflection; the brightness of Jesus’ face was a revelation.  As Schreiner says, “Jesus’ face is the sun; Moses’s is the moon.”[1]

This means that the transfiguration is a return to the garden.  In it, the disciples see what we were created to see: the face of God.  In the Bible, God’s face signifies his blessing, presence, intimacy, glory, and favor.  This is why Aaron taught us to pray, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” (Num. 6:24-26).

Sin hides God’s face from us.  Salvation means seeing God’s face again.  How do we see it?  By having hearts that see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).  Have you seen this light in Jesus’ face?

Moses and Elijah

The second sign we see is the presence of Moses and Elijah (vv. 30-31).  Why are they here?  There are lots of theories about their presence, but I think we can boil them all down to two main reasons.  They’re there as old covenant representatives and as individuals who longed to see God’s glory.

First, they represent the Law and the Prophets and therefore point us to Jesus as the fulfillment of each as the messianic Son.  Their presence symbolizes the unity of the old and new covenants, the unity of the biblical story.  Jesus came to end what they began.

As an example of how this moment signals the fulfillment of the old covenant, consider that this is the first time Moses sets foot in the Promised Land.  He wasn’t allowed to go in with the rest of the Israelites.  But now he sees not only God’s land but God himself.

Moses and Elijah’s presence signal that Jesus is the long-awaited messianic Son who the Law and Prophets foretold.

But they’re also there as two individuals who longed to see God (Ex. 33:22, 1 Kgs. 19:11).  Moses and Elijah experienced a partial revelation of God’s glory on Mount Horeb.  They both desired to see God’s glory but only saw a glimpse of it.  Now, in the transfiguration, their longings are finally satisfied as they see the glory of God’s face.

The Bright Cloud

The third sign is the cloud that comes down on the mountain (v. 34).  Matthew calls it a “bright cloud” (17:5).

While Peter speaks about making tents, the cloud is God’s way of saying, “I’ll make my own covering.”  Peter’s proposal was overridden by a single, better, and very different tent – the glory cloud of God.  Schreiner says, “God, not Peter, decides how he will dwell with humanity.”[2]

Clouds in the Bible signify God’s presence.  A pillar of cloud leads Israel through the wilderness during the day.  A cloud comes down on Mount Sinai.  A cloud comes down on the tabernacle and temple.  The son of man figure comes riding on the “clouds of heaven” (Dan. 7:13).

The cloud of God’s presence specifically symbolizes the presence of the Holy Spirit.  This is how the prophets interpreted the cloud during the exodus (Isa. 63:10-14, Hag. 2:4-5).  The cloud refers to the Holy Spirit as the one in the midst of Israel during the exodus.  The cloud is an emblem of God’s presence generally and of the Spirit specifically.

This means that all three members of the Trinity are present at the transfiguration: the Father speaks, the Son is transfigured, and the Spirit appears as a cloud.  Only here and at Jesus’ baptism are all three persons of the Trinity distinctly manifested.

The Son is in the flesh while the Father affirms the Son from the Spirit’s cloud.  The transfiguration, like Jesus’ baptism, reveals the triune glory of God.

The Sayings

The three signs of Jesus shining face and bright clothes, Moses and Elijah, and the bright cloud all signify Jesus’ double glory as the earthly and heavenly Son of God.

Now let’s consider three sayings in this text that continue to show us Jesus’ double sonship.  We’ll look at Peter’s saying and then the two things the Father says.

Peter’s Saying

When Peter wakes up and sees the glory of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, he said something that wasn’t necessarily wrong, but was misguided (vv. 32-33).

He’s right to say, “Master, it is good that we are here” (v. 33).  The disciples are in the presence of Goodness itself.  His words reveal the longing we all have to return to the good of the garden where we walked with God and saw his face.

But Luke notes that Peter didn’t understand what he was saying (v. 33).  Notice that the cloud comes down “as he was saying these things” (v. 34).  God interrupts Peter to help him understand what’s really happening here.

Peter misunderstands the singularity and the suffering of Jesus.  He wants to make three tents, assuming that Jesus, Moses, and Elijah are on the same level.  But God won’t allow this.  Jesus isn’t equal to Moses and Elijah.  He’s the singular Son.

But Peter also misunderstanding the nature of what Jesus came to do.  He errs by proposing to make tents, wanting to prolong the glory of this scene, to capture the glory of this moment and not let it go.  He wants Jesus’ glory to stay there in a tent.  He’s holding onto this moment too tightly.  He thinks he’s seeing the full revelation of the glory of the kingdom but doesn’t realize that the glory of the kingdom won’t come without the cross.  He thinks this preview is the final act.  He doesn’t understand that it’s Jesus’ suffering that will lead to his final glory.

The reason God interrupts Peter is because Peter doesn’t understand what he’s asking.  He wants to skip the cross and just go straight to the glory, not realizing that the final glory of God will only come after the suffering of the Son.

“This is My Son”

The second saying is the first thing the Father says out of the cloud, “This is my Son, my Chosen One” (v. 35).  Mark records the saying as, “This is my beloved Son” (9:7).  Matthew as, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased” (17:5).

The Father’s voice emphatically declares that Jesus is God’s Son.  As I’ve said, Jesus’ sonship is two-fold.  He’s God’s messianic and eternal son.  The two can’t be divorced.  Jesus’ divine mission flows from his divine essence.

This statement echoes Isaiah 42:1, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights.”  Jesus is God’s chosen and glorified messianic Servant-Son.

But it also echoes Psalm 2:7, “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.’”  That the Father’s words echo these words from Psalm 2 mean that Jesus is the human king foretold there, the Davidic king who’ll rule Israel and the nations.  These words are about kingship.

But they’re also about kinship.  Jesus is also the Father’s eternally begotten Son.  His sonship is more than an office but is a profound and eternal relationship that binds Father and Son together.  Hebrews 1:1-5 quotes Psalm 2 to make this point, linking Jesus’ messianic vocation with his eternal sonship, using Psalm 2 as support.

On the mountain of transfiguration, the Father declares that Jesus is his Son, both in terms of his role as messiah and his essence as God.

“Listen to Him”

The final saying is the second thing the Father speaks from the glory cloud, “Listen to him!” (v. 35) There are lots of things this command means.  The immediate context tells us that it first means that the disciples need to listen to Jesus when he talks about dying and rising.  Peter wants to stay in the glory; God says the cross has to come first.

But the command also reminds us of when Moses said that God would raise up a new prophet like him to speak to the people of God, and that the people “must listen to him” (Deut. 18:15).  This also reminds us of the “Shema” in Deuteronomy 6, “Hear, O Israel” (v. 4).  Jesus is the God of Israel who demands to be heard.

Jesus is the new prophet like Moses and the Word of God (Jn. 1:1) to whom God’s people must obey.  We must listen to Jesus now if we want to see God’s face later.

The Significance

What does all this mean for us?  How should we respond to what we see here?  There are at least three responses called for: we should obey Jesus, worship Jesus, and wait patiently for Jesus.

First, we must obey Jesus.  If Jesus is the glory of God, then he’s the most important thing in the universe.  The transfiguration teaches us that Jesus is all-important and must be honored as such in our lives.  He’s the axis on which everything turns.  The command, “Listen to him,” means Jesus is Lord, not just a nice guy.  Jesus’ glory is either a sham or real, and if real, then we have to give him everything and align our lives to him.

Second, we must worship Jesus.  Jesus isn’t one more prophet pointing to God like Moses or Elijah.  He’s the overwhelming, shattering expression of God’s radiance.  Jesus points to glory and is glory.  Anytime someone got close to God’s glory in the Bible, they were undone and began to feel the weight of their sin (Isa. 6:5, Job 42:5-6).  This is why the disciples were terrified when the glory-cloud came down on the mountain (v. 34).  But the glory didn’t kill them!  Why not?  Because Jesus was there (v. 35).

Later we learn that when Jesus dies, the curtain of the temple is torn in two (Mt. 26), meaning that the glory of God is now available to all because of Jesus’ death.  The glory that used to be fatal is now available to you in Jesus.  Jesus set aside his glory so that you can receive it.

In The Silmarillion, there’s this evil spider named Ungoliant.  Tolkien says “she hungered for light and hated it.”[3]  This is true of us in our fallen condition (Jn. 3:19ff).  We long for the light of God but also hate it and run from it.  We see it as a threat to our existence.

Until you understand what Jesus did on the cross, his glory will be a threat to you.  But after you see the beauty of his death for you, your motivation to serve him is no longer duty but desire, no longer fear but love.

The transfiguration teaches us that at the heart of the universe isn’t a principle but a Person.  A glorious person who can be known and loved and adored.  A person who loves you and died for you so that you’ll worship him and enjoy his glory forevermore.

And third, we must wait patiently for Jesus’ glory.  The transfiguration happened as darkness was gathering around Jesus.  After the shudders were closed, and his glory dissipated, he didn’t come out like Samson and kill all his enemies.  No, he set his face toward Jerusalem to do what he came to do (9:51).  After the transfiguration, Jesus’ glory was hidden but at work.

Just because we can’t see something doesn’t mean it’s not real.  If you belong to Jesus, in every darkness, glory is at work.  There’s always more at work than meets the eye.

As darkness gathers around us, we patiently wait for glory to be revealed.  And it will be revealed.  As Paul says, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18).

The transfiguration is a glimpse of the glory that we’ll one day see, given to us so that we won’t drown in despair.  It shows us what will happen when death is swallowed up and there’s nothing left but glory.

The transfiguration is like the Phial Galadriel gave Frodo to help him see when all other lights were dark.  It was the brightest of stars to light his way when he couldn’t see.

“We Will All Be Changed”

In the same way, the transfiguration lights our way on the dark roads we must travel in this life.  No matter how dark the road, the promise for those who belong to Jesus is that they, like him, will also be changed, will be “transfigured” and transformed “from one degree of glory to another” as we “behold the glory of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).

But this transformation won’t be complete until Jesus returns and “we shall all be changed” and our bodies are “raised in glory” (1 Cor. 15:51, 43).  Our “lowly bodies” will be transformed “to be like his glorious body” (Phil. 3:21).  When Jesus returns, John says, “we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 Jn. 3:2).

The transfiguration shows us the glory that we’ll one day share with Jesus.  It’s more than an event.  It’s our destiny.

[1]Patrick Schreiner, The Transfiguration of Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Reading (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2024), 70.

[2]Ibid., 75.

[3]J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, ed. Christopher Tolkien (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2004), 65.

Timber, Tough and Tender

I recently rediscovered a show I hadn’t seen in a while: Alone.  It’s a show where people go out into the wilderness and try to survive by themselves as long as possible, and the last person standing wins.  At the beginning you’re introduced to the ten contestants and you get to know some of their backgrounds.  My favorite contestant in the most recent season was a guy named “Timber.”  He’s a smallish, unassuming, regular looking guy from Indiana.  But as the season goes along, you learn that he’s super smart and knows a ton about how to survive in the wilderness.  You learn that he’s one tough cookie but also has a tender and big heart for his family and for serving the less fortunate around the world.  You also learn that his life was radically changed by the love of God.

When you first meet Timber, you don’t know all this and you may not think much of him.  But as the show unfolds, you realize there’s more to him than meets the eye.

More than Meets the Eye

And so it is with Jesus.  Many people think that Jesus was a good teacher, healer, miracle worker, or the  founder of a religion.  Many believers like to think of him as meek and mild, as a compassionate friend who’ll always be by their side.  And indeed he is.

But there’s more to Jesus than meets the eye.  Even the first followers of Jesus struggled to understand who he is.  After Jesus calmed the storm, the disciples ask, “Who is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?” (Lk. 8:25)  People who didn’t like Jesus, the religious leaders, after Jesus healed someone and forgave their sins, said, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (5:21) Other people like Herod were curious about Jesus because they’d heard about his miracles.  Herod was told that some say Jesus is a resurrected John the Baptist or prophet or Elijah (9:7-9).  Popular opinion about Jesus was all over the place.

Jesus was seen by many people, but the most important things about him were missed.  This is why Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” (9:20)  And Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, “The Christ of God” (v. 20).  Finally, the disciples were starting to get it.

As you may remember, when we left off our study of Luke’s Gospel, right after Peter makes this confession, Jesus tells his disciples that he’s going to suffer and die (vv. 21-22).  Then he tells them to prepare for a life of self-denial if they still want to follow him (vv. 23-25).

Jesus’ disciples believe that he’s the Messiah, but then they’re told he’s going to die and they’re going to suffer.  These two things couldn’t compute in their brains.  How could the promised King who’s supposed to defeat their enemies come and be defeated?  And if he was the King, why do his followers need to prepare to suffer?  Jesus was an enigmatic figure, leaving his followers downright perplexed about who he was.

The Importance of the Transfiguration

This brings us to our text for today (9:28-36), and what’s called the transfiguration of Christ.  This event is often overlooked and its importance minimized.  We talk about Jesus’ miracles, teaching, healing, exorcisms, death, resurrection, ascension, and return one day.  But we don’t talk much about his transfiguration.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record the event.  John doesn’t mention it, but he seems to refer to it when he says things like, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father” (Jn. 1:14).  And, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (v. 18).  And Peter mentions the event in his second letter (2 Pet. 1:16-18).

This event may not be talked about much nowadays, but it left an indelible mark on those who experienced it firsthand: Peter, James, and John.

The What of the Transfiguration

The event itself is very straightforward.  Jesus takes three of his disciples up a mountain where his figure is transformed: his face shines, his clothes turn bright white, Moses and Elijah appear with him, a cloud descends, and a voice from heaven declares that Jesus is God’s beloved Son.

But what is actually happening here?  It’s rather simple: Jesus’s true identity is being revealed.  As we’ve seen in Luke, people don’t know who Jesus is.  At the transfiguration, God shows and says, “This is who Jesus is.  He’s my Messiah and my Son.”

At the heart of the transfiguration is a revelation of Jesus’ double sonship.  Jesus is God’s earthly and heavenly Son.  We see two things at once: the future glory of the earthly and suffering messianic Son, and we see the preexistent glory of the heavenly and eternally begotten Son.[1]  I’m not saying that there are two Sons, but that, in Jesus, there are two natures.  This event is arguably the clearest picture we have of the two natures of Jesus.  He is truly God and truly man.  The transfiguration teaches us that there’s more than meets the eye with Jesus.

The transfiguration is an amazing event because it looks forward and looks backwards.  There’s anticipation and retrospection.  We see Jesus’ former and future glory.  In the transfiguration, Jesus receives a glory that was already his.  His glory as the Messiah is grounded in his glory as the eternally existing Son.  New Testament scholar Patrick Schreiner says it this way, “The transfiguration is both an indication of what is to come and an unveiling of what was – a preview of future glory and a sign of preexistence.”[2]  In the transfiguration, Jesus displays his inherent glory and receives glory from the Father (cf. Jn. 17:5).

Now that I’ve given you my conclusion about what this event is all about, I want to show you how I got there.  Following the outline of Schreiner’s book on the Transfiguration, I want to show you the double sonship of Jesus by looking at the setting, the signs, and the sayings in this text.  We’ll get through the setting today and look at the signs and sayings next week.

The Setting

First, let’s consider the setting of the transfiguration and see what it has to teach us.  The setting isn’t merely window dressing for the story but actually helps tell the story.  There are three parts of the setting I want us to look at and they’re all mentioned in verse 28: the timestamp, the mountain, and the witnesses.

The Timestamp

First, the timestamp.  Verse 28, “Now about eight days after these sayings…” (it’s six days in Matthew and Mark).  This timestamp is important because it reveals Jesus’ double sonship by linking him to several key texts in the Old Testament.

First, it links Jesus to the Son of Man figure from Daniel 7.  In verses 26-27, Jesus alludes to a passage in Daniel that talks about a Son of Man who’s given glory and a kingdom from God and worshipped by all people (7:13-14).  He says that some with him won’t die until they see this take place.  The timestamp signifies that what happens next is a fulfillment of that prediction.  In the transfiguration, the Son of Man receives glory and honor in the present as a preview of his later exaltation.

The second way the timestamp reveals Jesus’ double sonship is by linking Jesus to Moses who ascended Mount Sinai after six days in Exodus 24.  The glory cloud covered the mountain for six days, and on the seventh day Moses was called up to meet with God (Ex. 24:16-18).

Likewise, Jesus is called up a mountain, into a glory cloud, with three individuals, his face shines, a voice speaks, the witnesses are terrified, and when he comes down the mountain he finds a faithless generation.

The allusion to Moses on Mount Sinai is confirmed by Moses showing up and talking with Jesus (Lk. 9:30-31).  Only Luke records the minutes of the meeting between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.  The topic of conversation was Jesus’ “departure,” literally his exodus.  Jesus will lead a new exodus of God’s people out of bondage and to a promised land.  Jesus is the new Moses.

But Jesus is also greater than Moses.  Like Peter, James, and John, Moses was a spectator of the glory of God.  He, like them, traveled up the mountain to meet with God.  Jesus, therefore, isn’t just a new Moses, but is himself the revelation of what Moses saw on the mountain – God himself.  Schreiner says, “Moses’ light was borrowed; Jesus’ glory was unborrowed.  Jesus is not a mirror of divine glory but the manifestation of it.  He is light from light, God from God.”[3]

The glory that settled on Mount Sinai also settles on the Mount of Transfiguration, and Moses finally sees clearly what he wanted to see long ago.

The third way the timestamp reveals Jesus’ double sonship is by reminding us of the creation narrative in Genesis.  God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day.  The eighth day of creation was understood by Jews as the beginning of the new creation.  This is why God commanded the boys to be circumcised on the eighth day (Gen. 17:12).

The eighth day came to signify a coming age, an eternal day not measured in hours, a day that never ends.  Eighth day imagery symbolized the renewal and recreation of the cosmos.

So it’s not an accident that Jesus was transfigured “about eight days” later.  His transfiguration was a trailer for the new creation, revealing God’s end-time purposes for his creation.  Schreiner says, “The same light that emanates from Jesus will transfigure the cosmos.”[4]

This is why Jesus says in verse 27 that some of the disciples will receive a preview of “the kingdom of God.”  The transfiguration is like an appetizer, preparing the disciples for the main course of the fulfillment of the garden story that began in Genesis and ends with radiant light in the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:10-11).  The transfiguration has cosmological undertones: Jesus is the one who’ll bring in a new creation.

To summarize: the timestamp reveals Jesus’ double sonship, or that he’s both the Messiah and the eternal Son of God.  It links him to several key texts in the Old Testament, showing us that he’s the Son of Man from Daniel 7, the new and greater Moses who ascends the mountain, and the one who brings in the new creation.

The Mountain

Next, notice that the transfiguration took place “on the mountain” (v. 28).  What does this detail show us about the nature of this event?

We aren’t told what mountain, probably on purpose so that the mountain setting can serve as a symbol for all the mountains of the Bible.  So many big things happen on mountains in the Bible!  The Bible begins on a mountain, as the garden is described by Ezekiel as the holy mountain of God (28:13-14).  God starts over with Noah on Mount Ararat (Gen. 8:4).  God meets Abraham on Mount Moriah when he tells him to sacrifice his son Isaac (Gen. 22:2, 14).  Moses finds the burning bush on Mount Horeb, also called Mount Sinai, and God promises to bring his people back to that mountain, and is the mountain where Moses meets God in the glory cloud (Ex. 3:1, 12, 19:18, 24:15).  The prophet Elijah also goes to Mount Horeb and hears from God (1 Kgs. 19:8-12).  On Mount Zion (likely the same mountain as Mount Moriah), Solomon dedicates the new temple (1 Kgs. 8), and is where God installs his king, his Son (Ps. 2:6-7).  Isaiah says that the mountain of the Lord will be the highest of the mountains and all the nations will come to it (2:2-3).  God brings Ezekiel to a high mountain and shows him the future temple (40:2; 43:12).  In Daniel, a stone strikes a statue and becomes a great mountain that fills the whole earth (2:35).  Micah, like Isaiah, prophesies that in the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established at the top of the mountains and many nations will come to it (4:1-2).

Mountains are a major part of God’s story for the world.  Why would God make mountains so important?  Because they’re places where heaven and earth meet.  This is why theophanies, or revelations of God, often occur on mountains.

Do you see how that shapes our understanding of what’s happening on the Mount of Transfiguration?  Jesus is both the one who goes up the mountain as a man and the one who comes down onto the mountain as God.  He’s the God-Man who ascends and descends.  The mountain is part of this event to show us that Jesus both brings us to God and is God himself.

The mountain location shows us that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah who leads God’s people up the mountain, that he’s the messianic Son.  But it also reveals Jesus as God’s eternal Son.  The disciples go up and see God.  They see heaven and earth meet.

On this mountain, God and humanity dwell together in Christ.  The mountain isn’t an inconsequential location marker but reveals the meaning of what’s happening here.

The Witnesses

The final part of the setting to see is the three witnesses.  In all three Gospel accounts, Jesus takes three spectators with him up the mountain: Peter, John, and James (v. 28).

Why does Jesus only take three disciples with him, and why these three?  Some say the others weren’t ready for this sort of revelation.  It seems better to say that Jesus took these three because they’d be uniquely involved in his death and so they could serve as witnesses.

In love, Jesus wanted to prepare his inner circle for the upcoming scandal of his death.  These three are the same ones Jesus took with him to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mt. 26:37).  This means that Jesus took with him those who’d be with him in his darkest hour.  He wanted them to see the glory of his future kingdom before the darkness of his death came.  Schreiner says, “Jesus gave the greatest encouragement to those who would experience the greatest sorrow.”[5]

But they’re also there to serve as witnesses to the event so that it could be established by two or three witnesses.  Peter and John wrote about this event later (Jn. 1:14-18, 2 Pet. 1:17-18).

This event was unforgettable for these three men for many reasons, not least of which because it was terrifying (v. 34, Mt. 17:6, Mk. 9:4).  Matthew even says that when they heard the voice, “they fell face down to the ground” (17:6).  In the Old Testament, falling on your face happened when you saw God (eg. Gen. 17:3, 17).  The posture of the disciples tells us that they’re not merely in the presence of an anointed Messiah; they’re in the presence of God.

These three men, like Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu in Exodus (24:9), go up the mountain to witness the glory of God because they’ll be instrumental in carrying forward Jesus’ messianic work.  Their response, falling face down, indicates that they perceive Jesus as more than a mere Messiah, but as God himself.

The setting of the transfiguration by itself doesn’t prove that Jesus’s double sonship is being revealed, but the timestamp, mountain, and witnesses are highly suggestive.  Jesus’ double glory will be revealed more and more as the event unfolds.

Hope in Dark Times

It’s no accident that the transfiguration happens when it does.  People are confused about who Jesus is.  The disciples are just learning that Jesus will die and they don’t know what to do with that.  So, in grace, Jesus shows them his glory so that they know that the darkness doesn’t win.

There’s a simple yet profound point for us to take from this.  No matter what’s going on, no matter how much confusion or darkness we face, Jesus’ glory gives us hope in dark times.

Maybe you have a big decision to make, a broken relationship to address, sin that persists, financial strain, job insecurity, parenting and marriage struggles.  In all these things, there’s hope.  The glory of Jesus is available to you, and the glory of Jesus is our hope.

His glory shined brightly on the Mount of Transfiguration.  The good news is that we can share in this glory if we see his glory on another mountain, Golgotha, the hill Jesus died on.

We have to remember that the transfigured Jesus on the mountain is the same as the disfigured Jesus on the cross.  In the transfiguration, Jesus’ clothes are bright like lightning; at his crucifixion, they’re soaked in blood and divided among wicked men.  On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus is surrounded by Moses and Elijah; on Golgotha, he hangs between two criminals.  In the transfiguration, he’s enveloped in the cloud of God’s presence; on the cross, he experiences utter darkness.  In the transfiguration, he experiences the voice of his Father’s delight; on the cross, he’s forsaken by the Father for us.

The transfiguration shows us the double glory of Jesus that’s obvious for those looking on.  But on the cross, his glory shines in a way that’s hard to perceive at first, but once you understand that he climbed that mountain for you, it’s an utterly breathtaking view.  John Calvin says it this way:

“For in the cross of Christ, as in a splendid theater, the incomparable goodness of God is set before the whole world.  The glory of God shines, indeed, in all creatures on high and below, but never more brightly than in the cross…If it be objected that nothing could be less glorious that Christ’s death…I reply that in that death we see a boundless glory which is concealed from the ungodly.”[6]

If you want to taste the glory of the transfiguration, you have to first see the glory of the cross.  Do you see the “boundless glory” of Jesus’ death for you?

[1]Patrick Schreiner, The Transfiguration of Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Reading (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2024), 4.

[2]Ibid., 7, emphasis his.

[3]Ibid., 36.

[4]Ibid., 38.

[5]Ibid., 46.

[6]Quoted in Mike McKinley, Luke 1-12 For You (The Good Book Company, 2016), 137-8.

The Fear of the Lord and the Fear of Man

A few weeks ago we looked at the fear of the Lord and the fear of man.  The fear of the Lord is when the Lord is the biggest thing in your life.  The fear of man is when we replace God with people.  The fear of the Lord is the “fountain of life” (Pro. 14:27), while the fear of man is a “snare” (29:25).

The classic text contrasting these two fears is Jeremiah 17:5-8.  These verses say there are two options concerning the way we’ll live our lives: will we trust in man or will we trust in the Lord?  We all stand at a crossroads between the fear of people and the fear of God.  One road leads to life, one to death.

The trouble is that it’s hard to know where we are with the fear of the Lord and the fear of man.  It’s difficult to discern which one we’re growing in.

To help you think through where you are on the spectrum of the fear of the Lord versus the fear of man, let’s take a moment to self-asses to see which one is bearing more fruit in your life.

Some fruit of the fear of the Lord is when you begin to consistently look at things from an eternal perspective.  So, for example, when you’re going to hang out with friends or family, you’re praying, “Lord, help me show them your love, let me be an example of Christ for them.”  You’re looking for ways you can bless and serve and encourage, rather than ways to impress or manipulate.

Another fruit of the fear of the Lord is that you’re open to correction and you want to grow.  As David says, “Let a righteous man strike me – it is a kindness; let him rebuke me – it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it” (Ps. 141:5).

The fear of the Lord produces the fruit of humility.  “The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor” (Pro. 15:33).  When God is the biggest thing in our lives, we learn to not exaggerate our importance.

The fear of the Lord leads you to walk in calmness and peace when things seem to be falling apart because you have an eternal perspective.  Your hope is in the Lord, not in the strength of your nation or money or savings or connections or what people think of you.  The fear of the Lord creates a contentment in you that isn’t based on how much or how little you have.  “Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it” (Pro. 15:16).

Some fruit of the fear of man could be when the praise of others carries a high priority in your life, or when you think you have to get a certain job or compliment or possession or title or promotion so you can hear the praises of others in order to feel valuable.

The fruit of the fear of man is when you find yourself being insincere or like a chameleon.  When you’re with Christian friends, you’re spiritual and act a certain way, but when you’re with other people you’re different and you may not even bring up the Lord.

Other fruit of the fear of man is when someone says something negative about you or criticizes you and it ruins your week or you set out to prove them wrong or you may gossip about them to make them look worse and you look better.

When your sense of well-being is based on what others think of you and not what the Lord thinks of you, you won’t have a sturdiness or poise and you’ll be fretful and prone to interpret everything in the most negative way possible.  “The fear of man lays a snare; but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe” (Pro. 29:25).

 What Does the Fear of the Lord Produce?

This morning, I want us to think about this question about what the fear of the Lord produces in our lives so that we can discern its fruits and pray for them to grow.  It’ll also give us a target to aim at.

I want us to look at a few verses Psalm 34 (vv. 4-14).  Here we see at least three things the fear of the Lord produces: a satisfaction in the Lord, a desire to turn away from evil, and blessing for God’s people.  Let’s take these one at a time.

A Satisfaction in the Lord

First, in Psalm 34:9-10, David says that the fear of the Lord produces a satisfaction in the Lord.  One of the results of the fear of the Lord is a fundamental belief that God is all you need.

David says that the while the wicked, or the “lions,” languish, those who fear the Lord “lack no good thing” (v. 10).  This isn’t a naïve statement that fearing the Lord will get you what you want, or that God’s people will always prosper.  The next section of the psalm talks about the righteous crying out to God in desperate need and having “troubles” (v. 17) and being “crushed in spirit” (v. 18).  God’s people will and do suffer in many ways.

David’s point in verse 10 isn’t that fearing the Lord will make your life easy, but that it’ll make your life complete.  With the fear of the Lord you’ll have everything you need even if you lose everything you have.  Those who fear God understand that their relationship with God will satisfy them completely.

And this produces a humbling joy.  When you realize that God is big enough to meet all your needs and good enough to satisfy all your longings, and you realize that his greatness and goodness is completely unmerited, and even unlooked for, but is freely given to those who trust him, it humbles you.  It releases you from the burden of self-importance and having to prove yourself.  This is what Proverbs 14:26 means, “In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence.”  And Proverbs 19:23, “The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied” (19:23).  And Proverbs 22:4, “The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.”  Or, as David says in Psalm 34, “Those who fear God have no lack!” (v. 9)

A Desire to Turn Away from Evil

Then in Psalm 34:11-14, we see that the fear of the Lord produces a desire to turn away from evil.  David says that the good we want to enjoy (v. 12) goes hand in hand with the good we do (v. 14).   He’s saying that the fear of the Lord literally changes our lives.  It teaches us to watch our words and turn away from evil and seek peace.  In other words, David is saying that “life” is found inside the will of God, not outside of it.

The lie that the good life is outside of God’s will was first promoted in the Garden of Eden and still circulates the world today.  But David says here that a life lined up with God’s standards, a life lived in the fear of the Lord, is the truly good life.

Obeying God’s commands isn’t something we naturally love to do.  In many ways, we love to downgrade obedience to God.

We often downgrade obedience and upgrade appearances, focusing more on our actions than our attitudes, on externals more than internals.  Of course we should obey God externally, as Psalm 34:13-14 make clear.  But focusing solely on external behaviors can give us a sense that we’re okay as long as we haven’t killed anyone or committed adultery or stolen anything.  As long as we’re decent human beings, we think we’re good with God.  We know we make mistakes, but on the whole we’re pretty good so God accepts us.

But if we think we’re usually good, then God will be usually irrelevant to us.  As long as we think we’re basically good people who occasionally make mistakes, we’ll ignore the depths of sin in our hearts and elevate ourselves before God as someone who’s mildly flawed rather than someone who’s deeply rebellious.  Because of this, we put God on a shelf, there when we need him, while we live most of our lives completely independent of him.

Ed Welch points out that sin in our hearts is hard to see because it often rides on the back of good things.  For example, work is a good thing, but sin takes work and exalts it to the point where it rules us.  Welch says, “We become workaholics who say we’re doing it for the kids, but we are really doing it for ourselves.”[1]  What about financial planning?  It’s certainly wise to plan for the future if you’re able, but it’s a good desire that can grow to rule your life so that you forsake generosity and find your safety in your accounts.

So as we think about turning away from evil, we need to think about external evils and internal evils, idols or functional lords we set up in our hearts that rule our lives.  The way to reorder our desires and grow in the fear of the Lord is to identify the functional lords in our hearts and replace them with the Lord.

What’s the center, organizing principle of your life?  A hobby?  Your family?  Your career?  Your reputation?  Your appearance?  It’s easy to project an appearance of godliness while other things sit on the throne of our hearts.  Only the fear of the Lord can dethrone us and make Jesus the main passion of our lives.

Blessing for God’s People

The third thing the fear of the Lord produces is corporate in nature, or for God’s people.  Notice some of the corporate, or congregational, language in Psalm 34.  Verse 3, “Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!”  Verse 9, “Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints.”

David is saying that the fear of the Lord is for all of God’s people, that the Lord will deliver his people as they fear him.  The fear of the Lord shapes the people of God, multiplying the revelation of his glory and goodness.

This is what was happening in the early church.  Acts 9:31, “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up.  And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.”

In the earliest churches there was peace and comfort and edification and multiplication.  Why?  Because the churches were “walking in the fear of the Lord.”  Following the lead of the apostles, the churches cared more about what God thought than what people thought, even if it cost them something.  After being arrested and interrogated by the Sanhedrin because they healed a lame man, and after being told to stop preaching Jesus, Peter and John said, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20).  And then after they were arrested again for preaching Jesus and again ordered to stop preaching, Peter and the apostles said, “We must obey God rather than men” (5:29).

The apostles would not be intimidated into silence.  They would not let the government tell them what they could or couldn’t preach.  They would not stop proclaiming Jesus.  They would take their marching orders from God, not from men.  Why?  Because they were “walking in the fear of the Lord.”

What does this look like today?  It looks like a church that refuses to water down or stop preaching the good news of Jesus.  Like a church that refuses to call evil good or good evil.  Like a church that says killing unborn babies in the womb is murder, that says that marriage is between one man and one woman.  A church walking in the fear of the Lord believes that faithfulness to the Lord is more important than numerical growth.  But it’s also a church that boldly shares the gospel and prays for conversions because it desperately wants people to be saved because it understands that dying isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a person.  As Jesus says, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Mt. 10:28).

Churches who walk in the fear of the Lord receive God’s blessings of peace and comfort and seeing people built up and growing in the faith of the gospel.  Pray for this for our church.

How Do We Grow in the Fear of the Lord?

It should be clear by now how important the fear of the Lord is in our lives.  But how do we grow in it, or it in us?

Psalm 86:11 gives us a clue, “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.”  Fear of the Lord begins in the heart.  It’s something that happens at the heart-level, not the behavior level.  Our hearts are scattered and pulled in a thousand directions, so our great need is for the Lord to pull our hearts together into a singular orbit around him as the organizing principle of our lives.

This means that growing in the fear of the Lord is a miracle.  How do you perform surgery on your own heart?  We prefer to be the center of our worlds so a heart united around God is work God must do.

And it’s a work he promises to do for his people.  Jeremiah 32:39-40, “I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.  I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them.  And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.”

Growing in the fear of the Lord requires a new heart.  And God promises this kind of heart to his people in the new covenant.  How does it happen?  It happens when we’re born again or converted to Christ.  And this happens through the power of the gospel.

The Fear of the Lord Grows by the Gospel

In the gospel, we see the greatness and goodness of the Lord.  We learn that he’s so holy that he must punish sin and that he’s so good that he wants to forgive sin.

The gospel is the story of God covering his naked enemies and bringing them into a wedding feast and marrying them rather than crushing them.

As I said a few weeks ago, we long to be covered so we hide behind fear of man.  Shame sends us into hiding because we’re afraid of our nakedness being exposed.  But Jesus came and died in the most shameful way possible, naked on a cross.  He was innocent but he suffered under the mocking shame of others.  As Welch says, “Jesus both experienced shame and took our shame on himself, so shame no longer defines us.”[2]

This is amazing – it means we can come out of hiding!  It means we’re free to let people see us, the true us, to be vulnerable, to confess our sins and the sins done against us.  We’re free to finally be honest with ourselves and others because Jesus covers us, and if he covers us, then anything we confess is already under the covering of Jesus Christ.

But it gets better.  The gospel also says that God goes one step further.  He covers us in Christ and then he marries us and exalts us and makes us his prized possession.  The prophet Isaiah says it like this, “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.  For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer” (54:4-5).  And, like a good husband, the Lord takes pleasure in his bride.  Psalm 147:11, “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.”

The gospel says that we can be united in marriage to Christ.  Through faith, he gives us his name, love, presence, faithfulness, protection, provision, even his kingdom.

When we understand who Jesus is and what he’s done for us, our hearts fear the Lord.  And the gospel starts to unravel the fear of man in our hearts.  Because of Jesus, it doesn’t matter if people see me because God sees everything and still loves me and covers my shame.

The gospel teaches us to stop worrying about what people think because the only Person in the universe who truly matters loves us and says we belong to him.  Living in the fear of the Lord means we have nothing else to fear because God delights in us.  Psalm 34:4, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”

“Continue in the Fear of the Lord”

It’s true that you go from not believing in Christ to believing in him instantly.  But moving from God as a concept to God as your fear, or God as the biggest thing in your life, is usually not instant.  This is why Proverbs says to “continue in the fear of the Lord all the day” (23:17).

So you have to take the gospel and work it into your life.  You need daily stops in the throne room of God through his word and prayer.  You need a church to shepherd you.  You need help identifying the fear of man in your life.  So don’t beat yourself up if you’re not where you want to be.  None of us are.

But take the gospel, hold onto it, and grow in the fear of the Lord.  It’s the fear that will cast out every other fear.  It’s the way we were meant to live.

[1]Edward T. Welch, When People Are Big and God is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1997), 100.

[2]Ibid., 67.